New East African Community headquarters.

31 Mar, 2008

Construction of the new headquarters of the East African Community comprising Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi is due to begin in Arusha in May.

The Tsh22.8 billion facility will go up on a ten-acre plot next to the Arusha International Conference Centre, where the EAC is currently based. It will include offices for the secretariat staff, the East African Court, the legislative assembly and conference rooms. Construction is being financed by the German government.

New headquarters for the regional political and economic bloc were announced in 2005 but the start date for construction has been repeatedly delayed. Most recently the plans had to be enlarged to accommodate representatives of Burundi and Rwanda following their accession to the EAC last year.

Arusha has been the official seat of the EAC since 1999.