Ethiopia’s developmental cultures have long been known for their exclusive, chaotic, and abandoning nature. Whenever developmental projects were launched somewhere in the Country, doubts, criticisms, and biases would fill the air because the masses were oblivious to the rights of their nation. Even though its long tradition of Indigenous state formation enabled the Country to have a strong structure, the political culture by itself has been exclusive in terms of developmental projects and it always made it dependent on the freewill or generosity of administrations.
Such cases have been creating curiosity in the minds of the people that land needed for development projects is mostly attached to corruption or undue displacement of citizens. The thought has been true because of bad administrations’ and bad or abusive political cultures.
In the past few years several reforms and developmental projects were launched by Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed and the public has been curious as usual and it has taken too much convincing to do for the Premier and his committed officials. The development is still ongoing as it keeps on changing the lifestyles and entrepreneurial cultures of many particularly the youth.
Dawit Jemaneh a young entrepreneur who owns a shop at the heart of Addis Ababa says “The idea of an improved livelihood and life status has been ignored for several years for our traditions were limited by aged social norms and ways of life. This has already affected not only our economy but also our interests in macro-level entrepreneurial visions. I think the developments we have witnessed in the past few years are the sprinting boards to wake up and look for quality life status and broader visions of big city life”.
The overall City development projects are expected to renovate, decorate, and make Addis Ababa a better city for living. The first-round corridor development has gained international recognition as the City Mayor received the Smart City Leadership Award at Seoul, South Korea. The mayor in her statement released on her social platform page said the Smart City Leadership Award was the result of the combined effort of government and the people. “The public is the gear for every developmental activity and we the leaders are humbly grateful for the cooperative spirit of our people.”
While the corridor development initiatives are spreading to other cities and towns around the Country, it was announced that a second round of corridor development will be launched in Addis Ababa. According to Addanech the corridors studied for second round development are eight. She said, “The corridor developments are meant to be inclusive, transparent, and most of all they will be developments that do not leave anyone behind”.
The mayor also indicated that the new phase would cover over 2817 hectares of land. The development will comprise roads, taxi and bus terminals, green areas, bicycle lanes, vehicle parking, security facilities, etc. noted Adanech. In line with building their facilities Ethio-Telecom, artificial intelligence, Electric Utilities, and Federal Housing Corporation are among the major institutions expected to exert maximum effort in the process to make Addis Ababa a beautiful and smart city.
If the City has to transform itself and the lives of its residents going boldly towards the vision is expected to be mandatory. Many agree that to harvest the fruits of development several countries have gone through unimaginable sacrifices. That is what Addis Ababa is going through even if many see the reality with curiosity. To avoid such doubts among the public, Adanech stressed that the government is ready to provide everything necessary for the people who would be replaced and whose properties would be affected.
“Preparations are completed to quickly execute the second round of corridor development. Houses are prepared for those who were leanding unpleasant lives in the shanty old homes, workshops or shades are ready to be transferred. Different infrastructures including schools are also ready for our residents who transfer to their new and comfortable houses. Over 500 shops are built. Compensations and substitute lands are also prepared”, she said.
In this case, the curios traditions brought by the Nation’s entrenched bad political cultures would slowly diminish and the people would develop reliance on its government and politicians. A new lifestyle and status is expected to change the socioeconomic and political well-being of the mass public. Not only new places but also some new experiences could be confusing at first. But gradually the new places and new life experiences would be crucial in seeing the positive aspects of being part of such a bold move towards smart city developments. It makes the people major actors of their own development and ownership come with the sacrifices made.
People would also embrace the development and come up with entrepreneurial ideas that would allow them to entertain their sociocultural values and expand their businesses in a creative way. After all the entire world is changing in many dynamics and a modern society is always expected to come up with changes and learn to open up to new socioeconomic, cultural, or political solutions.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration which has pulled off several developmental initiatives over the past six years is making it clear if this Country does not go boldly on such huge missions, it will be hard to say the old political cultures have changed, and new promises are fulfilled. While addressing the parliament in the case of the first corridor development project, the Premier said “There would be confusion, too much noise and criticism. But we have to go boldly if we have to fulfill the promises that we made to our people. Making Addis Ababa a flower as depicted by its name, was the promise we made and that is what we are trying to achieve.”
In this case, Mayor Adanech Abiyebie has repeatedly stated that a cooperative culture between the public and government officials was growing with a trustworthy commitment during the execution of the first phase corridor development project. She also repeatedly noted that the public is always the one to acknowledge all the achievements in changing the image of the City.
BY NAOL GIRMA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 26 OCTOBER 2024
