Green Areas Expanding in Addis

Construction has boomed in Addis Ababa over the past decade. Shiny new high-rise blocks and shopping centers mushroomed all over the city, and the cranes dotting the skyline hint that more are on the way. Meanwhile, parks and green spaces became victim to urbanization, as private landowners and the state continuously look for space to build. Now, there are only 20 parks in the capital, which has more than four million residents and additional hundreds of thousands who go in and out of the city every day. Only 0.18Pct of Addis Ababa’s land mass is covered by parks and gardens. To improve the situation, the city administration embarked on various projects that targeted building of parks and green spaces. EBR’s Kiya Ali reports.

Sunday morning, July 28, 2019, Alador Yohannes, five, and Wongel Yohannes, seven, were playing with their peers whom they had just met at the recently inaugurated Park located next to St. Estifanos Church, along Jomo Kenyatta Street. Sitting by the bench close by was their mother Leksew Tesfu and her friend, who were chatting while monitoring the children’s movement. “We live around La Gare and neither green space nor a park can be found in that area,” says Leksew. “This park signals a coming change, even though it is not enough.”
Recently inaugurated about four months ago, the new park sprawls on 5.2ha of land, is fully covered by grass and has different statues of wild animals. Other recently opened parks are found around Lideta (4.3 ha) and Basha Wolde (1.17 ha). Overall, there are 20 parks in Addis Ababa, covering 957,650sqm of land. Per capita distribution of these public parks to residents living in the city stood at 0.23Sqm, which is way less than the global standard of seven square meters.

So far, only 0.18Pct of Addis Ababa’s land mass is dedicated to parks and gardens, one of the lowest proportions in the world. What’s more, Addis Ababa’s overall green coverage stands at 1.47Pct of its total area, according to the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction. Despite being the seat for a majority of international organizations on the continent, including the African Union Commission, Addis Ababa is yet to meet the international standards with regards to parks and greenery spaces.

There are a few open and green areas at the local or small neighborhood level, which are used for festivals, children’s playgrounds and other social activities. But some of these are left out spaces between residential houses and those that are distinguished as urban open spaces are not managed well, becoming an area where open defection is conducted. Most of these places are also either sold to private investors or used for the construction of condominiums.

The scarce green areas and poor ecosystem in the city are negatively affecting the well-being of its residents. Neighbourhoods accommodating the more vulnerable communities have lower access to green areas and are not considered enough to benefit from an adequate ecosystem. A case in point is the study conducted by UN Habitat a year ago, which found out that the districts with the lowest scores were those with very low income, where housing infrastructure is poor and there is no space for private gardens or parks. On the other hand, high income districts possessed more balanced ecosystems thanks to the presence of gardens and street trees. Comparison of demand and supply shows the need for quick interventions in Addis Ketema, Arada, Lideta and Kirkos districts, according to the study, which mentioned that the disappearance of green space is responsible for 40Pct of the flooding and landslides within the city.

Recurrence of flooding is already costing the capital ETB0.21 million per event and is expected to reach ETB2.34 million per year, according to UN Habitat. In terms of average monetary loss per event, Yeka District has the highest loss with ETB1.21 million per event and ETB2.12 million yearly. These figures do not account for the loss of human lives, as this cannot be expressed in monetary terms, according to the disclosed same source.

In Addis, less emphasis has been given to parks and green areas. “The government has almost overlooked the importance of green spaces in parallel with the development of infrastructure and housing,” says Mikael Melak, a landscape designer who was involved in the construction of two parks within the city.

One form of evidence that shows the low attention given to the construction and refurbishment of parks is the Ethio-Cuba memorial Park. Although the park was constructed during the military regime, it remained neglected for over decade to the point it had become a dumping site. But with the establishment of the Addis Ababa City Beautification and Parks Development Administration Agency a decade ago, the park, which sprawls on 24,426Sqm of land, underwent through various refurbishment projects. However, this has not been enough. A close glimpse at the park reveals its lack of basic facilities, like toilets and recreational centers.

The parks found in the city are expected to incorporate facilities like a cafeteria, a separate place where children could play and suitable areas for disabled citizens. A majority of them lack these facilities including Ethio-Cuba. The delays in the construction timeline of the parks is cited as one of the justifications for this. It is estimated that it takes about two years to finalize the construction of parks administered by the City Administration, but the trend shows that it actually takes between five and seven years, according to Adebabay Sendek, the Director of Communications at the Agency. “ This more than doubles the cost of building the parks, which under normal circumstances, is estimated to be between ETB50 million and ETB100 million,” as per Adebabay.

Broadly speaking, parks can be divided into two: recreational public parks and memorial parks. Recreational public parks must have green spaces, toilet facilities, cafeterias, a swimming pool and sports materials, among others. On the other hand, memorial parks in addition to having similar functions and facilities, contain statues or pictures to remember historical events or people and must have a guide who narrates what the park represents.

“In both cases, our parks are below the expected standard. For now, we want to make the parks open and afterwards build the other facilities,” says Adebabay. But such promises have never been kept so far. For instance, there is no further construction at the Ethio-Cuba Memorial Park. The same is true for the recently inaugurated park near St. Estifanos Church, which lacks basic facilities like toilets.

Tesfaye Sebhatu, a landscaper who has more than three decades of experience, is amongst those who have observed this. “Parks should at least have toilets and hand washing sinks. In addition to these, basic necessities are; trash cans, benches and pedestrian walkways to avoid walks on the grass,” says Tesfaye, who is the son of the founder of Bihere Tsige Park that was later nationalized by the military government. “Trees should also be planted in an intentional design to provide shelter. But few, if not all, of the parks fulfill these standards.”

On the other hand, Yirdaw Geremew, the Director of the River Basin and Green Area Development at the Agency, thinks the problem begins at the initial stage. “Feasibility studies usually get sidelined with a tendency to rush towards starting the construction. This, coupled with the lack of professionals specialized in parks and green spaces development, is finally reflected on the current form of the parks. Another hurdle for the development of green spaces in Addis is the absence of project coordination with the appropriate institutions.

“In Addis Ababa, green spaces and parks have been administered by different institutions, including Addis Ababa Environmental Protection Authority, Beautification Agency, Office of Urban Agriculture, Ethiopian Heritage Trust and lately the Gullele Botanic Garden. Instead of working cooperatively, each institution executes their projects separately.

As a result, experts of urban planning like Maru Abebaw says that the government must act promptly to have well-coordinated projects to make the city healthy and green. “The city is in need of more public parks as the extent of the problem is severe. This can demonstrated by children being forced to play by and on the roads, exposing them to potential car accidents and injuries. It has been proven that more green spaces and parks will have an adverse impact on the well-being of residents as well as the environment.” Maru adds.

Takele Uma, who succeeded as the deputy mayor of Addis Ababa, seems to embrace this importance of green spaces to the livelihoods of the capital’s residents. The green development project, which includes expansion of green spaces and parks, is one of the visible reforms in the city. As part of this endeavor, the government has seriously taken the task of planting tree seedlings ‘planting 3.6 billion trees countrywide in just two months’.

8th Year • Aug.16 – Sep.15 2019 • No. 77