Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — The Addis Ababa City Administration says it has completed the construction of more than 496,000 homes over the past five years through various housing development programs, according to the city’s Housing Development and Administration Bureau.
The bureau’s head, Kidist Woldegiorgis, said the city achieved the milestone by implementing multiple housing initiatives designed to address the growing gap between housing demand and supply. These efforts included the introduction of five new implementation approaches, among them public private partnership (PPP) models.
According to the bureau, the city had initially planned to construct 100,000 housing units during the 2018 Ethiopian fiscal year. However, officials reported that the actual number of completed homes exceeded the target, reaching more than 179,000 units.
Of those, 50,305 homes were built through government funded projects that received special priority from the Addis Ababa City Administration.
The bureau also referred to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s recently announced national housing initiative, which aims to construct 1.5 million homes across Ethiopia over the next five years. Officials said Addis Ababa, expected to account for the largest share of the program, has doubled its own housing target and has begun full scale implementation.
Preparatory work for the 2019 Ethiopian fiscal year has already been completed, according to the bureau. This includes the identification of land for future housing projects, the selection of contractors and consultants, and reforms related to workforce management.
Officials also stated that new construction technologies designed to reduce both costs and construction time while maintaining quality standards are being introduced on a wider scale.
Separately, the bureau reported that more than 46,000 homes have been built and handed over during the past five years for low income residents through contributions from private investors and charitable organizations as part of corporate and social responsibility initiatives.
The city administration said these humanitarian housing efforts will continue, adding that home renovation and construction projects targeting vulnerable communities are currently underway across Addis Ababa’s sub cities as part of the ongoing winter volunteer service campaign.
