The Addis Abeba City Administration Land Development & Management Bureau has collected two billion Birr of revenue from land related transactions over the first six months of the current budget year.
Out of this, 1.4 billion Br was collected from due payments from lands transferred via a lease process by the city administration. The rest was collected from construction permit fees, title deed registration, and other services related with title deeds.
In line with its redevelopment plans, the City cleared 47ha plots, where 740 houses were located. The plan was to clear a total of 186ha of plots located in the inner city of Addis Abeba. These plots were planned for redevelopment starting three years ago.
Since 2015, the Bureau has been working to clear 380ha of land in four districts- Lideta, Arada, Addis Ketema and Kirkos districts.
“So far we are only focusing on consultation with the public,” said Nigussu Teshome, communications head of the Bureau.
The Bureau has identified 15, 909 houses located in these areas which will be demolished. So far, the information of 5, 546 title deed holders has already been gathered.
The Bureau will only focus on houses located on 186ha of land, according to Niguss.
The emphasis on redevelopment came following the introduction of the City’s tenth master plan, which was released after the cancellation of the controversial Integrated Addis Abeba & Surrounding Oromia Special Zone Integrated Master Plan. The proposed 1.1 million hectares of land outside the capital included in the Integrated Plan has now been reduced to just 52,000ha in the tenth master plan.
“The City has been left with a limited area for expansion,” said Tamrat Eshetu, an expert who was involved in the preparation of the tenth Master Plan. “There are no options. Redevelopment is a must.”
The plan recommends that the residents affected by the redevelopment program should be informed of its timeline, and compensated with new homes, either in the same area as the redevelopment, or within one kilometre.
The Bureau had planned to pay compensation and gave a replacement plot to 173 farmers who settled in 1,521ha of land. In this respect, the city, has signed a memorandum of understanding with these farmers.
Over, the past six months the Bureau has cleared 70ha plot out of the planned 200ha.
The poor performance was because the Bureau could not prepare consultation meetings with the public, the report stated.
It mentioned a list of problems that has affected its mandate of redevelopment. The report attributed the lateness of the condominium projects in the Bole Arabsa area and near the Bole Airport to the lack of proper road infrastructures. Houses in these condominium projects were supposed to be transferred as replacements for residents who lost their houses. There was also a shortage of kebele houses.
In its mandate to transfer title deeds to residents, the City has transferred 1, 521ha to a land bank. Of the total land, 53.2ha was entered into the land bank and will be transferred through the lease process. Another 72.5ha was transferred to both government and non-governmental institutions. And 20.3ha was transferred to investors involved in manufacturing. Small and micro enterprises received 30.3ha of land, to be divided to people who lost their houses because of redevelopment and leasing.
The Bureau also identified 150 plots that failed to start construction and force 8,349 developers to amend their lease contract.
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