DARE TO SUCCEED ABYSSINIA BUSINESS NETWORK /ABN/ MAY 2022

OPTIMIZING ADDIS ABABA’S ROADS:

ADDIS ABABA CITY ROAD

AUTHORITY

By Daniel Tiruneh /ABN/

Cities around the world inter connect with roads which is defined by The organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as "a line of communication (travelled way) using a stabilized base other than rails or air strips open to public traffic, primarily for the use of road motor vehicles running on their own wheels", which includes "bridges, tunnels, supporting structures, junctions, crossings, interchanges, and toll roads, but not cycle paths".

There are many types of roads, including parkways, avenues, controlled-access highways (freeways, motorways, and expressways), tollways, interstates, highways, thoroughfares, and local roads. The primary features of roads include lanes, sidewalks (pavement), roadways (carriageways), medians, shoulders, verges, bike paths (cycle paths), and shared-use paths.

The Addis Ababa city road Authority is a governmental institution resposnsible for the construction of reliable, standardized and quality roads in Addis Ababa City. Besides the expansion of the road coverage of the city, it strive to attain sufficient road coverage for the community to get interchangeable traffic flow.

The authority has the mission of building Asphalt roads, Gravel Access Roads, Coble Stone pavement Roads, Drainages, Bridges and concrete roads and making suitable for residents of Addis Ababa to significantly remarkably enhance the regular activities, thereof using hi-tech and low cost materials and resources constructed by contractors and own force at improving level on time available for public service.

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The Addis Ababa city Road Authority is striving to increase the road coverage of the city from 7,640 to 13,125km over the next 10 years with 165 billion birr investment.”

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MOGES TIBEBU CEO, ADDIS ABABA CITY ROAD AUTHORITY

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Addis Ababa Roads Authority is a municipal organization established in 1998. Its major tasks include designing, constructing, maintaining and administering roads in the city of Addis Ababa. Until 2020, the authority has been able to construct a total of 7640km length road. Apart from these, it is tasked with road network widening and alleviating traffic load.

Currently, the authority is overseeing more than 100 projects that are worth around 28 billion birr. When completed these projects will regulate traffic flow, ensure road security, create job opportunities for the youth, and consequently change the image of the city while lowering commuting time and cost. ABN sat down with the CEO of the Addis Ababa Road Authority Moges Tibebu to discuss about the involvements of the authority in

construction and maintenance of roads in Addis Ababa.

To achieve success in the road construction sector, the Addis Ababa road Authority employs a lot of strategies. One of these is furnishing adequate and suitable roads that make non-motorized traffic sufficiently available. Through this, over 500km of pedestrian road has been constructed. Over the past 3 years, major reconstruction of

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100km existing pedestrian roads has been carried out, the CEO pointed out.

The roads are inclusive of the disabled, changed the city’s image, and lessened risk of car accidents and ensured pedestrian road safety. Additionally, 22kms of bicycle road is under construction which is in line with the authority’s expansion of Non-Motorized Traffic. The bureau recently culminated the construction of the Haile garment-Jemo bicycle road.

The second strategy laid out by the Addis Ababa roads Authority is the expansion of road network distribution. Over the past 3 years, 60 asphalt road projects have been completed covering about 130kms in total length. In most cases, road junctions are where heavy traffic is registered. As Engineer Moges said, “To eliminate heavy traffic, underpass overpass and tunnel works are being constructed in 8 different locations”.

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To eliminate heavy traffic, underpass overpass and tunnel works are being constructed in 8 different locations”.

“To eliminate heavy traffic, underpass overpass and tunnel works are being constructed in 8 different locations”.

These major constructions are being undertaken in CMC, Bole Michael, Imperial, Lebu, Kaliti, Kera. The authority also built the first tunnel road in Addis Ababa’s history covering around 320 meter in length. Also, in junctions where heavy traffic flow are observed traffic lights are installed which facilitated effective handling of heavy load traffic.

As the CEO explained, in prior times, various transport infrastructures such as road, railway and freight were planned separately. But the authority has laid out a comprehensive 10-year strategic plan that considers all of these facets of the transportation sector. The implementation phase of the plan is financed by the World Bank. The defunct structural plan was only devised to serve as a spatial plan. However, the new 10 year

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plan considers the future aspects of the transportation sector.

Another problem in Addis Ababa’s road infrastructure that needed to be addressed is drainage. To solve this, a comprehensive drainage master plan, laid out in an integrated manner by considering all sectors of the transport sector, was implemented. Maintenance and up keeping roads to sustain their service and preserve assets by fulfilling international standards is also another mandate of the Addis Ababa Roads Authority, as the CEO Moges Tibebu said. Such works have great roles in enabling the city reach 90% road coverage rate in the coming few years.

As Moges said, the Addis Ababa Roads Authority follows two ways of construction. The first one is through hiring consultants and contractors. But when there are cases in which it might not be feasible to involve the private sector, the city road authority takes its own intervention plans. This is its second mode of operation.

The capacity of the city administration is gaining momentum from time to time and the majority of the recently completed projects are undertaken with the resources and institutional capacity of the city road authority. Utility companies which provide electricity, water, and communications are also stakeholders in the road construction sector as it requires an effective integration of these services. Optimizing the capacity of road infrastructure network is also being undertaken by taking international experiences from advanced nations.

Stressing on the challenges of the authority, Moges said that one of the major challenges is lack of proper integration of utility infrastructures into road construction projects. To solve this, the Addis Ababa road authority is integrating

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essential auxiliary facilities into roads. One of the major breakthroughs that make such undertakings systematic and sustainable is the establishment of transport infrastructure asset management system. This is a powerful database that stores information about designs of infrastructures, including how, where and when they were made. Such system is believed to modernize how project data is collected for future reference or any other related purposes.

Another challenge of the road construction sector is boundary demarcation. The city roads authority demolishes old buildings or other infrastructural settings to rebuild roads of the city as per the design standards of the 10 year strategic master plan. In doing so, demarcation problems should be properly dealt with in collaboration with the Addis Ababa city administration office. But still problems of giving residents new replacement homes or lands continues to be a major challenge as Moges highlighted.

The Addis Ababa city road authority has also taken the assignment of installing intelligent transport system design on 220 road intersections with the financial aid of the World Bank which is believed to eliminate traffic congestions on road intersections. Construction of Mass transportations infrastructure systems within the next 10 years is also another assignment taken by the authority. To this end, the BR2B2 corridor is now being implemented and other 9 corridors will be constructed in the coming 10 years.

Aside the integration and networking of main roads, shortcut roads are being constructed which lessen the load on main roads. Design of these roads is

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now complete and this plan aims to increase the road coverage from 7640km to 13,125km with a 7 meter equivalent width. For this, 165 billion birr worth of investment is needed by involving the private sector as well. As Moges elaborated, PPP platforms and schemes are being considered to accomplish the construction plan. The financial resources will also be secured through the authority’s budget, loan, aid, and other maintenance fund.

“The Addis Ababa city Road Authority is striving to increase the road coverage of the city from 7,640 to 13,125km over the next 10 years with 165 billion birr investment.”

Newly constructed roads will be designed well by communicating effectively with other auxiliary infrastructure developers. This way, it will significantly reduce the number of reworks which previously lead to demolishing roads to maintain utility services of water, telecommunication and electricity. The establishment of transport infrastructure asset management system has also reduced the damages incurred by existing infrastructures since it provides adequate information on the conditions of age old public facilities, thereby protecting them from damages and additional maintenance costs.

As the CEO said, “If we are to bring a radical change in the Addis Ababa transport system, the ITS should be implemented”. This system collects traffic flow data from selected corridors and sends to traffic operation center. Using the data the center makes possible the optimization of traffic flow in busy road intersections. Moges also added that, in order to have a healthy traffic system in the city three things must be available namely; Engineering solution, enforcement and education. Technology aided interventions and enforcements should be put in place. Moges also did not shy away from mentioning that achieving these feats comes at a considerable investment cost spread out over the course of 10 years.

The CEO also highlighted that some of the opportunities in the road construction sector include the fact that the government is committed to make the city attractive through a dedicated act of all echelons of the government body. Such commitment is strong enough to overcome any impeding challenges. Building comfortable roads is something in line with this plan, as Moges said. Project delivery capacity is the second one. The authority’s experiences thus far can be considered as good opportunities that can be leveraged for future projects and endeavors.

On the other hand, there are wide arrays of challenges observed in the road maintenance and construction sector. Aside from boundary demarcations, the soaring prices of construction materials and inputs and long standing court legislations are the major challenges of the authority. This is limiting the bureau from achieving its intended target of building more roads.

As the economy of the capital Addis Ababa grows, it attracts millions of people from underdeveloped regions of the country. However, unless other intervention methods are implemented, sustaining the migration of individuals would prove to be a major challenge requiring significant intervention mechanisms. Development of urban centers will be the future plan of the Ethiopian government. To this end, the Addis Ababa city road authority’s technology leveraging road expansion and optimization efforts contribute a great deal to the interventions mechanisms over the coming years.

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