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The Addis Abeba City Caretaker Administration
Cabinet dubbed the Jomo-Repi Industrial Zone a
residential site overriding the city master plan for
the first time in its tenure. This will make the
City Investment Authority lose the second largest of
the four industrial zones in the city at 92hct.
Wubishet Berhanu (PhD), general manager of the city,
told Fortune that the basis of the decision
is the fast-paced expansion of the city.
“Though Jomo-Repi was previously on the outskirts of
the city, it is now almost in the centre due to the
metropolis’ growth,” said Wubishet.
The Addis Abeba Houses Development Project Office
postponed the construction of the 33,000 condos
meant to be undertaken in the 2006/07 budget year to
this year. Jomo-Repi, which is expected to board
10,000 condominiums, is one of the eight
construction sites discerned for this project. The
city also has envisaged to equip the zone with
schools, clinics and recreational centres for the
would be residents.
Wondossen Demrew, land preparation and
infrastructure design department head under the
Project Office, told Fortune that development
studies have been carried out on the industrial
zone. Accordingly, 60pc has been allocated for
condominiums and the balance has been earmarked for
service rendering institutions and commercial
buildings to be sold.
“Constructions were being undertaken on the green
area facing the zone even before this decision,
Wondossen added. “The latest decision has,
therefore, been made as industrial zone
constructions would not be compatible with
residential complexes.”
There are 387,000 houses under the City
Administration. According to a study the Addis Abeba
Housing Agency conducted in 2004, 84.4pc of these
are residential houses fulfilling the housing
demands of a mere 59.4pc of residents. The same
study revealed that the city needs an additional
337,700 houses and in its five-year strategic plan
issued in March 2007; the City Administration has
planned to construct 400,000 houses in a bid to
alleviate the shortage.
According to sources from the Administration, the
Cabinet’s latest decision is crucial for the project
to abate the problem.
For the 2007/08 budget year, 38,500 houses are
planned to be installed at a project cost of 1.5
billion Br.
Kassa Hailu, general manager of the Addis Abeba Land
Development and Administration Authority, told
Fortune that the industrial zone would be leased
to real state and commercial construction
developers.
However, the Cabinet’s decision has driven the
Justice and Legal Bureau of the Investment Authority
and the City Master Plan Bureau to dismay. In a city
where plot requests of investors in the industrial
zone have not been addressed since 2005, this is
thought to compliment to the problem.
After Arkebe Oqubay, former mayor of the city and
now state minister of Works and Urban Development,
took control of the city administration, Akaki
Kaliti and Mekanisa Lebu industrial zones were
fenced and distributed to around 324 developers.
Afterwards, the industrial zones were increased to
four; Akaki industrial zone expanded by 62hct, Dry
Cargo Terminal Industrial Zone (Akaki-Kaliti) with
35hct, Kilinto Industrial Zone (Akaki-Kaliti) with
305hct and Jomo-Repi Industrial Zone with 285hct.
However, due to the failure to furnish them with
infrastructures, 1,000 investors’ requests could not
be addressed, sources disclosed.
“If the metropolis lacks industrial plots, the
industries can be built in other regions, but if it
lacks residential houses, the residents cannot be
told to dwell in other regions,” Wubishet emphasised
the weight of the Cabinet’s decision.
An official at the Investment Authority said that
Kilinto Industrial Zone would not be ready for
investors in the 2007/08 budget year as it requires
over four bridges and infrastructure.
“Jomo-Repi would have become ready for the budget
year as paved roads have been installed in the
Industrial Zone at a cost of 30 million Br,” he
disclosed to Fortune. “However, since we lost
hold of the land, we can no more reply to investors’
requests for plots in the Zone.”
The Addis Abeba City Roads Authority (AACRA) has
connected the project site with the ring road of the
Jimma gate, west of Addis Abeba, at a cost of 30
million Br.
A source at the Justice and Legal Bureau also said
that the city master plan should have been amended
with a proclamation as it was first issued with a
proclamation, if necessary, instead of taking an
action that is against it. He added that amendment
requests have not been brought to the Bureau.
Drafted in 1986, the city master plan has been
undergoing recurrent revisions until it began being
implemented in 1996.
A letter the Master Plan Bureau wrote to the Mayor’s
Office demonstrated the discontent of the Bureau as
the latter did not consult the former though the
Cabinet has the right to make decisions.
“The Bureau was requested to comment on the decision
instead of evaluating the wisdom of the judgement
before it was approved,” laments the letter. “There
could have been ways to harmonise both the
residential and industrial plot needs, as there are
still two already launched industries at the spot.”
The first is Agro Stone factory, which is under the
Project Office while CGC Overseas Ltd, a Chinese
Company, is under construction to establish the
first glass sheet factory in Ethiopia. The latter
has taken a 4,577sqm plot near the Jomo River in the
Nifas Silk Lafto District.
The City Administration seems to have offered a very
generous incentive to this investment making it too
irresistible for the company to ignore; the City
Land Development and Administration Authority gave
60pc of the plot free of lease while the remaining
was offered based on the area’s standard lease
charge of 255 Br per square metre.
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