Corridor dev’t aligns heritage preservation
ADDIS ABABA – The Ethiopian Heritage Authority (EHA) said it has finalized the development of national heritage inventory software to improve accessibility, emphasizing the compatibility of corridor development and heritage preservation.
Briefing the media yesterday, EHA Director General Abebaw Ayalew stated that the authority has been registering tangible and intangible heritages based on meticulous standards.
Depending on heritage proclamation (criteria), the authority has also been conducting researches, registering, preserving and protecting heritages and other activities and making the architecture heritages be part of the national inventory.
“The national inventory would not merely be carried out in paper and it requires the digitalization of the process and the development of the national inventory software aims to support the digitalization process.”
Abebaw also noted that the developed software passed the necessary steps and got a green light from the Office of the Prime Minister for implementation. In collaboration with the Information Network Security Administration (INSA), preparation has been finalized to conduct national inventory on movable and immovable heritages within the coming two months with a 24 million Birr budget.
Per to proclamation (standards) and part of the authority’s restructuring, the heritages would be part of national inventory and heritage registration will not be arbitrary.
Currently, the Addis Ababa City Administration has been undertaking corridor development and renovation activities in the city that contains several heritages such as urban building heritages, streets monuments and others.
According to the director general, the corridor development and renovation activities have been taking place without touching the main heritages including institutions. “Since cities are the centerpiece of development, it is an important to set criteria on urban building heritages, and in line with this, we took the experiences of Switzerland, Japan and, Canada to set standards to register urban building as national heritages.”
The authority has been registering urban heritages based on style, construction, age, architecture, design, and other criteria and , listed some 147 urban buildings as heritages in Arada Sub City where the corridor development is takingplace. “However, there are registered heritages that do not qualify the recently set standards.”
The corridor development and renovation activities required aligning with heritage preservation and protection and it is what has been done so far, Abebaw emphasized.
BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 4 APRIL 2024
