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The over two million Birr worth makeover of the city
bus terminal in Merkato, commonly known as Adarash,
has been finalized after a delay of nearly one and
half months from the intended date of completion.
After 65 days of sprucing up, the Merkato terminal
reopened last Thursday, February 12, 2009, with a
new look to render its usual service as the major
dispatching point for city buses in Addis Abeba.
The project, which was initially believed to cost
two million Birr, sponsored by Moha Soft Drinks S.C,
has seen its cost go up by about half a million Birr
as there have been a revision of plans to take in
additional works, including installation of
septic-tanks for the two toilets constructed along
with waiting shelters and hand washes. Polar
Promotion Plc, a private advertising and promotional
company, was in charge of the execution of the
project.
“When we started the project, we realized that the
place did not have any sewerage system; thus we
needed to install septic-tanks,” Asfaw Deneke,
general manager of Polar Promotions Plc said. “We
also included hand wash facilities that required
installation of a pipeline for clean water supply
and the drainage system for two shops.”
Metal remnants of the previous shelters had also
been heaped-up without being excavated and made it
difficult to dig out the concrete, according to
Asfaw.
The project has been undertaken in collaboration
with Addis Abeba City Government, the Federal
Transport Authority, Addis Abeba Branch Office, and
the Anbessa City Bus Enterprise, which took the
mandate to run the shops in the area from the
Transport Authority.
Incurring the approximately 2.5 million Br cost,
Moha now has its advertisements all around the
terminal on the seven, two-sided, ten-metre long
passenger waiting shelters and the two shops that
also provide a snack service and on the two
wind-proof ticket offices for Anbessa.
The soft drinks company made the investment
primarily as promotion for their products in the
area, according to Gethachew Birbo, chief executive
officer of Moha.
Now that the terminal is complete, Anbessa City Bus
Enterprise plans to run the facilities within the
terminal by itself, Amanuel Tezera, head of
Dispatching Department with the enterprise
disclosed. Polar, however has the responsibility to
look after the cleanliness of the terminal.
There are about 500 employees, including the two
shift drivers and the cashiers for the 100 buses
that operate from the terminal.
Besides the 450,000 dwellers in the Addis Ketema
District, which has over 10,000 shops, more than
200,000 people from all across the city visit
Merkato - the largest open market in Africa - each
day. The 100 buses that operate from the Merkato
terminal serve the area each day with 20,000 trips,
according to Tiblets Asgedom, general manager of the
city Transport Branch Office.
“As Merkato is a big market place in the country
that has become an attraction for tourists, we need
to keep it clean,” she said.
Polar Promotion was established in 2007 and has been
involved in light box advertising and production of
the bus shelters with advertising space work on
various streets of the city. To date, 30 bus
shelters, including the new ones, have been
installed by Polar at the bus stops in different
corners of the city. |
