BY KFLEEYESUS ABEBE
Aiming to make the Addis Ababa City beautiful and comfortable to live in, the City Administration designed and carried out various projects. Notably, the City Administration has been carrying out seven mega projects at an outlay of 15 billion Birr for the past two years. The projects have now entered 70 percent completion and are expected to be finalized in the upcoming year.
General Manager of City Administration’s Megaprojects Construction Office Engineer Shemelis Eshetu says they are running the construction 24 hours a day to complete the projects as per the specified time and budget. Accordingly, the projects have now reached 70 percent.
Some of the projects are partially open to service. Maintaining this work ethic, the CEO is confident that the projects will entirely be completed next year.
Among the projects, the recently inaugurated Meskel Square is a State-of-the-art construction with integrated facilities incorporating an underground parking lot to accommodate 1,400 cars at a time, more than hundred baths, 200 bathrooms, retailer shops and an electric generator is installed.
The park is eye-catching, containing flower vessels, a place to sit and a panoramic view to the city. There is also a four storey building to be connected to Unity Park by a tunnel holding a parking lot, a supermarket and recreation center.
Renovation of the Addis Ababa municipality headquarters is also partially completed. Landscaping, renovating offices, and building new facilities inside the premises of the municipality are being done without affecting the original design. The renovation has made the old building modern and comfortable for both members of the staff and customers.
The unique design of the project shows the administration’s commitment to make Addis Ababa to live up its name which is in English New Flower. Though a foreign company took a construction contract, Ethiopians have also worked in partnership with the foreign company. The partnership is also another benefit of the project as it helps realize experience sharing and technology transfer. The megaprojects which renovate and expand old buildings have drawn the attention of residents.
Executive Secretary of Addis Ababa City Administration Municipality Office and Cabinet Affairs Aynadis Mekonen expresses her surprise saying ‘not appreciating this can be considered as ill will’. She recalls that members of the staff used to work in uncomfortable offices with bad smell, lick and poor partition.
When Aynadis returned to her office which was under construction, she couldn’t believe her eyes. She thought she was in a foreign country. She says, “I realized nothing is impossible if you work hard.” The cleanliness of the place gives good perspective, motivates employees and government offices and the staff could earn respect from the customers, she says.
Other Residents of the city Meaza Mengistu and Mulatua Abebe also appreciated the project for its quality and short construction period. However, they regret not having done it earlier. Good prospect is a head of the generation as it lives and works in a clean and conducive city, say Meaza and Mulatua. They urge this work to sustain and other parts of the city to be as clean and comfortable as this.
When the projects are over and ready to service, it will impact the lives of citizens as it creates jobs for people on top of its social, economic and administrative services. The project while it is under construction created jobs for more than 8,000 people. When completed it would create more jobs.
Shimelis says the beauty and development of the city will have a positive role in creating new perspectives that could reach to change the politics.
Pedestrian road from Meskel Square to the municipality has already been completed and inaugurated. The revamping of the municipality is partially completed and other constructions are in good progress. Shimelis attributes this rapid performance to work ethics that is being cultured in recent times.
The project could also be valued for handling different challenges such as the traffic in the center of the city, construction material supply, COVID-19 and other recurrent challenges.
The City Megaprojects are fine looking and state-of-the-art constructions realized in a short period of time. They have created ample jobs for people and keep amused city residents. They will continue to be a spark of the city and attract tourists. They will continue to be a source of amusement, a recreational center and a place where people exchange knowledge, ideas, beliefs, attitudes. This ultimately makes the city conducive to live and beautiful as its name. The effort of making Addis Ababa to live up its name continues.
The Ethiopian Herald June 26/2021
