Live up to Master Plan, Addis!

BY WORKU BELACHEW

Have you ever been to London? It is a brilliant and most visited city in Europe planned by Sir Patrick Abercrombie, British architect and towns planner. Among other cities that his imprints still prevailing are Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Addis Ababa. Up on the invitation of Emperor Haile -Selassie, he came here and prepared Addis' master plan in 1956 with neighbourhood units as the basic city-organizing concept. The street network of the city was characterized by radial and ring roads intended to channel vehicular traffic outward from central areas. Over the past five or six decades, the city's Master Plan was subject to various revisions following regime changes including the short lived Italian occupation.

The 125 years old diplomatic hub of Africa is now under construction with fences here and there. New skyscrapers are mushrooming in every place, roads of various kinds are interconnecting the different neighbourhoods across the city. In terms of residence, despite a roaring demand, the construction of condominium houses has already listed at the foremost section of the city administration's agenda. Actually, the rapid growth of the capital is also calling for urgency when it comes to infrastructural provisions like potable water, housing, telecommunications, electricity and transportation, inter alia which the government is tightly working to satisfy these demands.

The course towards meeting these demands, however, does not seem to be uncomplicated. The building of Light Rail Transit (LRT) in the capital is a case in point in this regard. In most places, it demands the demolishing of standard roads only after they serve for two and three years. Imagine how costly this is for a country with meager budget. Most places through which the LRT passes, some high-skyscrapers for instance, are being slashed. Is this not a mess? In fact, one has to accept the evolution of the city. Buildings and roads would not be an everlasting properties. All may live up to the demand of a given society at a time. But, the argument here is not on the importance of the LRT construction. It is a timely job as transportation shortage is a fundamental necessity in the capital. The question is why does the city fails to live up to its master plan? It would not be a sophisticated science to envision for a period of at least ten years time. Be that as it may, some buildings under construction are also risked due to that. Had such constructions stick to the city's master plan, City Administration could not have been subject to compensation. Not only that, complying with master plan and other building guidelines and manuals also green lights every development work. The provision of any infrastructures would go easily and timely apart from reducing cost.

For this, the office that license individuals must enforce the master plan of the city. Land delinted for open space should not be engulfed by other constructions or sitting back and watching while people build skyscrapers almost on main roads would be rather hampering the city's ongoing development.

As it is vividly seen in most parts of Addis, the design and building of most skyscrapers could suggest that the office (s) mandated to enforce the master plan, which would be concluded this year while a revised structural plan to come to force come year, is/ are either ignoring their responsibility (ies )or misusing it.

This aspect ignites certain quite important move towards this end. And taking the issue into consideration so that all concerned can draw workable lessons from past experiences, no matter how bitter it may be. This time Addis Revised Master Plan is to be launched. But, acquiring the plan in itself could not guarantee a developed city. However, every municipal body should integrate their works if it is to make the city a livable one. Of course, this task should not be left only to the government. Every resident, investor , opinion leader and the society at large need to fight against it. Tall buildings and roads are not the only component of a standard city. Open spaces, landfill areas, green spaces, among other, also help Addis Ababa boost the social interaction of residents as well as visitors. In addition, it also play an important role in improving the health of residents. In this context, best practices as well as worst practices of other cities in the world can be used to take formidable lessons, to model the former and not to repeat the latter. This indeed calls for unwavering commitment of all concerned bodies so that they can invest their energy, capital and timer in raising the awareness of the public at large. Following the low level of awareness with regard to ways of crafting/designing buildings no one can forward constructive criticism when constructions are undertaken closer to pedestrians, on spaces reserved for community open spaces, or parks ... unless the existing laws, regulations and manuals are well promoted. That is why public arm is stronger and proper to own the city which we all are aspiring.

As an American- born Canadian writer and activist Jane Jacobs puts it "There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans,”