Adama City, one of the business hubs in the rift valley, will implement a new spatial master plan for the coming decade for 11 million Br. The new plan will replace the existing one designed 13 years back.
The Oromia Regional Urban Planning Institute designed the master plan after being contracted by the City Administration. The Institute formed a team of 54 individuals for the Plan which took seven months to design.
The Plan is expected to solve the problems related to land management, facilitate the expansion of basic public infrastructure and administer slum and shanty areas in the town, according to Adanech Abeibe, mayor of Adama.
The master plan incorporates 11 areas surrounding Adama, which together with the city will cover 31,000ha. Green areas, marketplaces and artificial ponds, and recreational centres with distinct names have been incorporated in the plan.
“The spatial plan was designed taking the population growth of the town into accounts,” said Dadhi Wedajo (PhD), director of the Institute, which has prepared over 1,795 of spatial plans for cities, towns, and localities in the region.
Though the City Administration allocated 30 million Br for the project, the Institute, which was established in 2007, utilised only one-thirds of it to design the master plan and conduct the 12 different research.
Inter-regional, the national and international significance of the city, history and heritage, environmental effects, and sanitary and sewerage lines were some of the areas evaluated by the institution before devising the plan for Adama, a century-old city with over 320,000 residents.
The existing plan, which was prepared by two private local firms, phased-out three years ago. But, until the latest one was devised, the administration prioritised other administrative activities and focused on pre-planning works, according to Adanech.
The work has now reached 95pc completion, and the Institute is planning to put it up for public discussion next week, according to Zebenay Hailu, public relations head at the Institute which is currently developing spatial maps for Shashemane, Weliso, Sebeta, Robe, Illubabur, and Assella.
An architect by profession with over 12 years experience and currently teaches at Haramaya University appreciates the design of the master plan.
“It will help the town become a sustainable city [a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact] and avoid future disputes over plots,” he posited.
Two months ago, Adama, which is among the 664 mid-sized and large towns in the Oromia Regional State with 35.4 million residents, was restructured into six districts from 14 kebeles. The administration also renamed major streets after prominent individuals such as Abdissa Aga, Ali Birra, Waqqo Gutu and Alemayehu Atomssa.
The administration of the town expects the new spatial plan to be executed before the end of the current Ethiopian fiscal year after approval from the city council.
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