When the Office of the Prime Minister announced a dinner fundraising program dubbed ‘Dine for Sheger’ which is an integral part of “Beautifying Sheger” Project that aims to make Addis Ababa cleaner, greener , livable and one of the best tourist destinations, some people were shocked hearing the amount of money one should pay to dine for a single dinner. This is because those who were willing to attend the dinner had to pay five million Birr for a seat and such worthy dinner was probably never heard of in the history of the country before.
But, last Sunday over 250 people attended at the dinner event on the premises of Menelik ll Palace. Surprisingly, the event enjoyed strong turnout and was the most inspirational one in terms of galvanizing the general public into action. “Beautifying Sheger” project is a three year initiative of the Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed and it is one-billion USD project that will run along the rivers of Addis Ababa, developing green spaces starting from Entoto to Akaki alongside the 56km river streams until they reach Akaki waste water treatment plant.
Once realized this grand vision will make the city competitive in changing the livelihood of its residents, revive the city’s economy, boost urban tourism and increase real estate value of project site properties. Yes, the project worth 29 billion Birr, this much of money will not be secured overnight. However, ‘Dine for Sheger’ event has clearly proven that the project will become a reality soon apart from showcasing can-do attitude of the fellow citizens at large. Over the years, it has become an unfortunate fact of life that Addis Ababa, the metropolis of the country, has been growing and expanding at the expense of its streams and that is why a number of rivers have been drying up or becoming dumping sites through time.
Therefore, it is high time to carry out rehabilitation and restoration of these rivers via ‘’Beautifying Sheger “project and to stop throwing garbage in to the rivers as well. Recognizing the problem, the incumbent has put into action cleaning campaign and “Beautifying Sheger” project so people from all walks of life are expected to contribute their part in realizing the national set goal which is to handover clean and the most environment-friendly country to the posterity. In fact, the nationwide cleaning campaign that takes place every month need to be done in a coordinate manner than never before.
Hopefully, the cleaning campaign will last longer and become the day to day activities of the public at large. For sure, the last Sunday’s morning clean campaign testified that how determined the people are in terms of turning their beloved cities, towns and villages into clean and green. Indeed, the nation has to keep on the gained momentum in this regard under any circumstances. As ‘’Beautifying Sheger“ project and the cleaning campaign are the two sides of the same coin, both should go hand in hand to bring about the desired results in a swift manner.
By the same token, the international community and the Africans residing in Addis Ababa will definitely extend unreserved support for the project as some have already pledged to leave their fingerprints on the project. In a nutshell, every fellow citizen is expected to play his/her part in realizing such lofty goal through actively participating in the cleaning campaign on a regular basis. “Dine for Sheger” participants and the initiative itself deserve all appreciation as both have provided further impetus for the project.
The Ethiopian Herald May 21/ 2019
