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The administration of Modjo Town, 73km east of Addis
Abeba, is at odds with the Ethiopian Railway
Corporation (ERC) over compensation arrangements for
the relocation of 2,804 residents settled on 93.59ht
of land to be moved, in order to make way for the
construction of railway stations.
The Corporation is at an early stage of
commissioning studies to undertake a national
railway project that aims to connect the country’s
major cities through eight selected corridors,
crisscrossing over 1,833km and projected to cost
173.6 billion Br.
The corridor given priority is the 656km line that
starts from Addis Abeba (Sebeta), and passes through
the towns of Modjo and Dire Dawa, ending up in
Dewale at the Ethio-Djibouti border.
A historical town whose establishment is owed to
Ethiopia’s first railway of the early 20th Century,
Modjo will also be a hub for an additional railway
line to the south, with its final destination at
Moyale, a border town with Kenya, 771km from the
capital.
The Ethio-Djibouti corridor, which will cut through
the main highway in front of the Modjo Dry Port on
the outskirts of town, will have two stations built
nearby: the main station, which will lie on 123.7ht
of land, and a smaller station, which will lie on
25.6ht of land, at the spot where the railway line
is to split into two major corridors.
This will lead to the relocation of thousands of
residents in and around Modjo, a move that compels
the Corporation pay compensation, estimated to reach
at 36 million Br.
Nonetheless, the Corporation has agreed to provide
compensation only for properties of those to be
relocated, while declining to pay for the land,
according to Muluneh Balcha, deputy mayor of Modjo
Town.
“The land that these residents will be moved from
was taken from farmers’ cooperatives, after the town
paid compensation for it,” Muluneh told Fortune.
“The land to be given to the residents to be
relocated will also be taken from farmers in the
peripheries of the town, Compensation for the land
will have to be given.”
The Corporation has slightly different views, both
on the number of people that need to be relocated
and the type of compensation to be paid.
There are 1,908 people that will be affected from
the construction activities of its projects in the
town, while only 438 have farmland, the corporation,
established as a state enterprise in 2007 with a
capital of three billion Birr, believes.
“While these people [with farmland] will be given
compensation after the productiveness of their land
is assessed, the rest will only be provided
compensation for the loss of property as provided
for under the law,” Fadil Ibrahim, social and rights
of way affairs project manager, told Fortune. “The
relocated residents will be appropriated space for
the construction of houses by the city
administration. Hence, we will not compensate for
the land.”
Relocation due to land use by the state is covered
under the proclamation decreed in 2004, and the
defined appropriation of land for government works
and payment of compensation for properties is found
in Provision 401 of the proclamation.
A meeting was held in November 2011 between
representatives of the Corporation, senior officials
of Oromia Regional State, and the mayor of Modjo in
an attempt to resolve the differences. The mayor’s
administration does not have the budget for the
compensation, he claimed, and requested the
Corporation to release 16 million Br for the
purpose.
“The Modjo Town Administration will work this out
with the Corporation and the regional state to
provide proper funding and land allocation,” Muluneh
told Fortune. “The railway project will benefit our
town in the future, we realise.”
Officials at the Corporation refused to disclose the
total amount of compensation to be paid out. The
process of registering residents and determining the
area to be allocated to them is yet to be finalised,
they claimed. Compensation for farmland will be at
16.35 Br a square metre, Fadil disclosed.
Amidst this official brawl, however, residents, such
as Alemitu Abebe, a 45-year old mother of four, who
is eagerly waiting to be resettled at the new
location, are caught in between.
“I was building a house near the dry port when I was
told to stop construction in July 2011 and rented a
house for 200 Br a month,” she told Fortune. “Now,
they are asking me to move from the rented house,
due to the new road to be constructed from Adama
(Nazareth) to Addis Abeba.”
This new toll road, set to be completed by the end
of 2013, is also part of the government’s
transformation plan. In fact, Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi heralded the coming of his administration’s
Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP) after laying a
stone that launched the eight billion-Birr budgeted
highway, in November 2010.
Having to move from two residences, Alemitu wishes
this the reappraisal of the land would be conducted
quickly, so that she can get compensation and a new
plot to relocate to.
“We have been promised these things, but there is no
delivery yet,” she said.
The deputy mayor conceded to the complaints of the
residents. The townspeople understand that these
construction activities are in the national interest
and will benefit residents of this town later on,
according to the deputy mayor.
“The relocation process is a little bit delayed, and
residents need time to adjust to the inconveniences
of relocation, we understand,” said Muluneh.
“However, proper compensation should be provided to
them. We are doing our best to speed up the
relocation process.”
On top of complications that arise from relocations,
some residents to be moved do not have valid title
deeds, even though they have lived for 10 to 15
years around the area where the station will be
built. What will happen to these residents,
estimated to be a least 98, has been a cause of
concern.
“If these people built houses on a land that they
were using for agriculture, we will cooperate with
them,” Muluneh said.
However, if the houses were built without permits
through illegal means, the town’s administration
will have to decide what measures to take, the
deputy mayor said. |
