About 15 years ago, the influx of migrating people from the rural areas to Addis Abeba was between five and six percent per year, whereas the normal growth of population stood at a little over 2.8pc. Residents, including people on transit, were then reported to be a little over 2.8 million.
Today, the picture is different. Although no census has been carried out in recent years, conservative estimates of the population of the capital put it in the range between 3.8 million and 4.8 million. The growth of population in the capital has resulted in the scarcity of supplies for social services, including urban transport.
The lack of a sustainable and lasting master plan has forced the capital to expand along the circumference and all directions. This impulsive expansion has resulted in the urgent steps to construct access roads, extend utility lines and revise settlements. The new expansion has not only increased the shuttling distances, but also posed a consequential pressure on transport services.
The existing taxis and city buses had to be stretched out to their limits because their supply could not match with the growing demand. This acute shortage was often manifested by the long queues of passengers, starting from day break, with the pressure increasing at peak hours. Passengers get not only get delayed in arriving their jobs, but also often fall prey to the whims and dictates of the assistant to the drivers of taxis.
These assistants often collect fares according to the rules and tariffs they set for themselves, taking the official rules and regulations into their hands. They have full power over their properties and often change routes at will.
In such cases, mass transport is advised as a better solution to curb the acute urban transport problem. To this end, the Addis Abeba Transport Bureau has time and again tried to deploy as many buses at peak hours. But the effort could not cope up with the increasing demand for more service. It was against this background that the plan to introduce the Light Rail Transit (LRT) came to the scene.
The routes being North-South and East-West direction, it was a total length of 34.2Km with a capacity of carrying capacity of some 60,000 passengers during peak hours. The average arrival time of each wagon is said to be six minutes.
Taking the general perspective of the daily demand of 2.5 million passengers and the total length of tarmac roads in the capital, 34Km is not even five percent of the required demand. But it is a good strategic start, which can be developed over time to make an impact.
The Kaliti-Meskel Square route, just a part of the project, was inaugurated in the presence of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and other prominent officials. All the pertinent dignitaries had expressed their impressions about the significance of the project, which is said to have undergone many hurdles and inconveniences. But it was Getachew Betru (PhD), the CEO of the Ethiopia Railway Corporation, who had outlined the whole and parts of the project.
I would have thought Fekade Haile, the director general of the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority (AACRA), could voice on the pressure of the project and the lack of a coordinated plan. Many newly built and expanded expensive roads had to be done again. For over three years, motorists have been forced to slowly drive along the congested traffic, thus, making the flow unbearable. Thousands of civil servants have been subjected to the whims of taxi drivers and additional expenses. The economy has been affected one way or other.
It is also ironic that no sooner had the project been inaugurated temporarily for some damages to have happened. This seems to justify the three months probation period. It has been reported that the Corporation is drafting a bylaw that will help to make good for the loss. Many people are of the opinion that prior to the setting of the bylaws, priority should be given to creating awareness among the people on how to live with the traffic rules in all the modes of the transport activities.
It was speculated that the light train service may be disrupted due to the frequent losses of power. It has come to be known that this problem is to be mitigated by the direct connection of the power transmission line from the sub-stations outside the reach of interruption.
It is also assumed that the Corporation shall deploy the time-tested transmission cables and best transformers. We do not know the daily consumption in kilowatt hours, but we can assume that deploying electric power for driving trains is ecologically friendly.
The manpower preparation scheme is a major factor the corporation has adopted as a vital measure to consolidate the prerequisite of capacity building, which is also expected to cater for the big railway network projects underway in the country.
The light rail project is deemed to bring windfall opportunities to little modalities of transport like motorised tricycles or commonly known as “Bajajs”. A few months ago I had to go to the CMC village on the east end of the capital. I had to take a taxi from piazza to Megenagna. I then, had to take another mini-bus to a place called Meri, from where I had to use a Bajaj as a transit modality.
I can now imagine that when the LRT starts functioning in full gear, there would be more passengers needing the services of the Bajaj. Thus, the traffic overflow could triple down to these tricycles or even to horse-driven carts, as is was the case in the outskirts of the capital around the so called Alem Bank area.
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