The Ministry has recognized the significance and potential of secondary cities and is putting maximum effort to assist their development. Mekelle, Hawassa, Bahir Dar, Adama, Dire Dawa, Asosa, Gambella and other secondary cities are identified as strategic cities in pursuing smart urbanization.
By Misael Lemma (The Ethiopian Herald)
Ethiopia’s urban population, which was estimated at 17.3 % in 2012, is one of the lowest in the world and even below the Sub-Saharan average of 37%. But this is set to change dramatically. According to the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency, the urban population is projected to nearly triple with annual growth rate of 3.8 %. This means, it will reach 42.3 million by 2037.
However, a report by the Ethiopian Urbanization Review indicates that the urbanization rate will even exceed by 5.4% annually. According to the review, urban population would triple even earlier than the above mentioned period and the rate of urban residents throughout the country would reach 30% by 2028.
The Review also indicated that Ethiopia is going through a demographic transition in parallel with rapid urbanization. The labor force has doubled in the last two decades and is projected to rise to 82 million by 2030, from where it was 33 million in 2005.
The Review clearly stipulated that the rapid urban population growth would present a huge opportunity to shift the structure and location of economic activity from rural agriculture to the larger and more diversified urban industrial and service sectors if it is utilized proactively. On the contrary, the urban population boom would pose pressure for the cities in terms of providing jobs, infrastructure, services, and housing.
Tiumezghy Berhe, Urban Good Governance and Capacity Building Head at the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing said that the major cause of the urbanization challenges is the unbalanced growth between the urban population and cities.
“In Ethiopia for example, the population of rural-urban migrants boomed in a very short time. However, the cities’ pace of growth in terms of different infrastructures such as water, electricity and communication facility, is not comparable with the speed of their population growth,” he noted.
He underlined that urbanization in developing countries is inevitable. And every state should induce smart urbanization, which considers fulfilling basic human needs and necessary infrastructures of urban development.
According to the Head, Planned Urbanization has several advantages. It is a significant market place for agricultural products. China’s huge cities have made a significant contribution in consuming what is produced and supplied from the country sides. This generates income and makes the farmers, especially those who reside near to the cities, beneficiaries. The industries in cities will also get cheaper labor forces which help them to produce competitive products for domestic or international market.
It is also known that Ethiopian cities are already playing an important role in the economy, contributing 38 % of GDP, primarily due to the high productivity associated with urban sectors.
The review pointed out that if well managed, urbanization could be an important catalyst to promote economic growth, create jobs, and connect Ethiopians to prosperity. To put exactly what the report stated: “only by making urbanization a national priority will Ethiopia reach middle income status.”
Then the question here is how can the nation regulate the urbanization in a way that could avoid the pressure on its emerging economy?
Tiumezghy underlined that scattering developmental projects throughout the country rather than condensing them around major urban centers is considered as one of the solutions to the problem.
“Anyone who studied the urban conditions in the last decades will understand how important spreading huge projects are helpful to manage urbanization in a smart way,” he stressed.
According to him, before ten years Addis Ababa was a dream destination for every rural to urban migrant as majority of the investment, infrastructure development and other economic activities revolved around the capital. But now, the arrival of state capitals with wide opportunities is absorbing the migrants and this in turn is decreasing the inflow of migrants to Addis.
The Ministry has recognized the significance and potential of secondary cities and is putting maximum effort to assist their development. Mekelle, Hawassa, Bahir Dar, Adama, Dire Dawa, Asosa, Gambella and other secondary cities are identified as strategic cities in pursuing smart urbanization.
The establishment of Industrial Parks in different parts of the country would also plays a key role in supporting the Smart Urbanization strategy. According to Industrial Parks Development Corporation Chief Executive Officer with Rank of the state minister Sisay Gemechu, though the major goal of the construction of industrial parks is to boost export, it would also have a positive outcome in stimulating urbanization in the country.
Industrial parks induce cities to prepare modern master plan and initiate infrastructural development and expansion of cities. “Some of our nearly built industrial parks are inside cities while others are outside. Hence, the old cities and industrial parks would be linked through a master plan. This, in turn would stimulate the growth of cities.”
He also added that “in this regard; we can mention the case of Mekelle and Dire Dawa where the parks are being built outside the cities.” This, if supported with suitable master plan, would help create additional big cities. In some, this phenomenon might also cause a change in center of cities.
Tiumezghy also indicated that the other most important direction drawn by the Ministry is creating awareness for farmers. “Some farmers, particularly those who own farmlands adjacent to Addis Ababa, see urbanization as a threat. But now we have eased their suspicion and changed the saying that went as ‘The city is coming over you’ to ‘The City is coming for you’.
“We teach them that a city nearby guarantees a market for their products. We let them know that the growth of Addis Ababa is no more horizontal but vertical, except of course in some special cases” Tiumezghy added.
With all the efforts that have been undertaken, there are still gaps in creating jobs, fulfilling infrastructure and providing housing services. According to the Urbanization Review, formal job creation is not satisfactory as compared to the rate of migration. “Of more concern is that urban industrial activity is mainly in micro and small firms, whereas in Ethiopia, it is mostly the medium and large firms that sustain job growth—and those in the first group are unlikely to move into the second, thus failing to contribute to net job creation,” the report affirms.
Ethiopia is already benefiting from the high economic growth. But when population growth is factored in, per capita annual growth rates are much more modest and compared with other countries at similar levels of urbanization, Ethiopia has the lowest Gross National Income. An economically productive urban transformation is necessary for Ethiopia to reach a middle income status.
Source: The Ethiopian Herald