BY HIZKEL HAILU
Foreseeing the city as the home of both rich and low-income community as well as Africa’s beacon of prosperity, Addis Ababa City Administration has been working admittedly to execute new housing programs as well as set new economic reform agendas that would ensure a decent livelihood so far.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Jantirar Abay Public Services Delivery Institutions Coordinator with the rank of Deputy Mayor said that one of the opportunities by the reformist government is to make Addis a city where everyone is treated equally.
The deputy mayor noted that the city administration addressed the grievances of displaced farmers that were relocated without sufficient compensation and it has put new housing guidelines to ease the imbalance between public’s demand for homes and government’s capacity to provide.
In making the city decent home for every resident and assuring the city’s economic growth, the reformist administration has also adapted different economic strategies, in which the homegrown economic reform is among the others.
However, despite the administration’s effort to make the city’s residents endowed with their own standard house, bridging the gap between the need and the supply remains unattained so far. Besides, there is high imbalance among the haves and the don’t haves in possessing living house.
To address this imbalance, the city administration has been hugely engaged for the completion of existing projects and it has employed experienced international house developers with the required technology and knowledge to provide quality houses in a shortest possible time. The administration further envisions building one million houses in the next five years, he noted.
Noting executing mega projects as per the schedule is among the major achievements the reformist administration has introduced in Addis Ababa, Jantirar highlighted that the projects have significantly changed the face of Addis. The projects signaled that the metropolis would become a beacon of Africa’s prosperity soon.
As to him, Entoto, Unity and Friendship Parks along with newly reconstructed Meskel Square with ample of facilities and the Adwa projects as well as the largest library project in East Africa ensure the opportunity and capacity of the city to prosper. The city will also become one of the leading tourist destinations in the world and one of the largest cities in Africa as well.
These projects have major economic significance for the residents and the city as well. The city generates its own income from the tourists (local and foreign) in line with creating job opportunity for low income communities, tax and other ways of income source. Addressing the question of metropolitans also helps to benefiting the city as a whole, he underlined.
While pointing out there have been many outshining reforms in the city with the effort of the responsible and industrious new leadership working hand in glove with the community, Jantirar clarified that the new housing program is set for addressing every citizen fairly.
As to him, different development activities have been undertaken since the past three years in the capital adding that various projects that have been implemented during the reform have changed the lives of people who have low income background.
“It is not difficult to predict the future of Addis by looking at its current development activities. We have a plan to fundamentally transform the city as it is kept under the ten years plan. Additionally, different works are underway to make Ethiopia one of the prosperous countries in the world by 2040. And Addis Ababa will lead the economy of the country in the near future,” he asserted.
Sharing the above rationale, Mekonen Abera, an economist, stated that the legal, political, social and economic reforms the country has been implementing during the past three years have taken Addis Ababa to a new chapter.
Adding to the point, the economist further illustrated that stimulating existing projects which have been dormant for the past three decades, executing new projects like; ‘Sheger bread, Entoto Park’ and the like are among the admirable performances that are directly serving the residents.
“Addis Ababa is endowed with a potential to generate enormous revenue and it has a comparative availability of educated and skilled labor force,” the expert said. Adding, he noted that commendable works have been done to upgrade Addis Ababa’s status of being a home to different international institutions and a major tourist destination.
“As capital cities and metropolitans areas are widely considered as growth centers and focus areas for economic concerns, the city administration should further take important attention to further development,” he opined.
The rapid developmental movement in addition to the new housing strategy of the city is also of paramount importance for benefiting the metropolitans. Unlike the former housing strategies which used to stand for the service of some cliques, the current city administration is working exhaustively to benefit every sect of the society particularly the underprivileged group, he noted.
Meanwhile, the city administration has recently signed a memorandum of understandings with South African Company with 4.2 billion USD deal to build 500,000 affordable homes in five years and Wadi Al Sider Commercial Investment Liability Ltd company to construct 30,000 cost-effective houses on 68.4 hectares of land in Akaki sub-city.
During the signing of the agreement, Adanech Abebie, Deputy Mayor of the city stated that the city administration has been setting and implementing different alternative strategies to solve the housing problem of the residents. As to her, participating the foreign investors to construct cost-effective condominium houses within a short period of time is one alternative among the set alternatives.
Indicating that the city administration is working tirelessly to address the urgent housing problems of city residents, she stressed that the coming of these international companies is helpful to afford financial service, technological transition and provide experiences.
By the same token, according to Jantirar, the Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda set by the government of Ethiopia is also a well-coordinated response and blueprint to propel the economic progress of the country and the city in particular.
Despite the outbreak of the pandemic, invasion of desert locust and other challenges, the government of Ethiopia is pursuing to materialize the home-grown economic reforms. These reform activities are also benefiting Addis residents in many aspects.
He also mentioned that constant monitoring and evaluation that have been undertaking by the city administrator have given them the ability to execute projects quickly. Henceforth, the efficient and effective project performance coupled with the new economic reforms have laid their foundations for booming the city as well as the national economic growth, he underlined.
Both, Jantirar and the economist expressed conviction that the new housing strategy and the enhanced capacity of executing projects with the planned time and ultimate quality put Addis Ababa in the right direction to become Africa’s beacon of prosperity.
The Ethiopian herald July 6/2021
