Category "News"

The Feasibility Assessment is the first step in a well-defined project cycle of designing, capacitating, and establishing a prospective Water Fund. It is a critical step in informing the key stakeholders whether to invest in the next steps of the process.

A Water Fund for the Addis Ababa City and key watersheds in the Oromia Region could play a key role in the water security challenges facing the area. A Water Fund could make a transformational contributions to Developing a shared and feasible vision of Water Security needs that creates cohesive water-related decision making, and Offering an attractive vehicle for pooling a multitude of resources to ensure the continuity of investment to protect and conserve water resources.

The Feasibility Phase has two primary objectives, firstly, to determine if a Water Fund is an appropriate and feasible mechanism to improve water security for the citizens of Addis Ababa, in partnership with Oromia Regional State. Next, is to recommend whether to proceed with the water fund design and other stages.

Based on this the Assessment Concluded that water fund is appropriate to solve water security in Addis and the designing and creation phase is on plan to start.

Climate Change and Environment Commission said it will introduce seven additional new air quality monitoring stations in the capital city next month.
Air Pollution Monitoring and Control Senior Expert Meseret Abdissa told journalists that   Ethiopia, with a population of more than 100 million, has only seven monitoring stations in Addis Ababa, Hawassa and Adama.

Yet, some of those are dysfunctional and the number of the air quality monitoring stations is low, he revealed.

The commission is, therfore, working in cooperation with United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) to introduce additional seven new air quality monitoring stations in the city, Meseret elaborated.

The senior expert stated that more than 50,000 persons die from diseases related to air pollution in Ethiopia.

The major sources of pollution in the country are biomass fuel, vehicles emission, poor quality fuels, poor solid waste management, pollution from industries and construction, it was learned.

UNEP representative to Ethiopia, Samba Haroma said the economic cost of air pollution is over 750 billion in Africa, while it is 114 billion USD in Sub-Saharan Africa.

About seven million persons die worldwide from pollution related disease annually.

Ethiopian News Agency

Addis Ababa finalized a series of workshops  from May 22- June 15, 2019 led by the Addis Ababa city resilient project office . The workshop’s aimed to co-create tangible actions that can make municipal solid waste management,service delivery and planning, environmental system,  housing and construction sector,Water and sanitation and ICT more resilient.

A consortium of three companies sealed a 126.9-million-Br deal to develop a comprehensive transport and traffic management plan for Merkato.

Two German companies and one local firm initiated the study to design and implement the traffic plan last month under a contract awarded by the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority. The project, which aims to alleviate traffic congestion and enhance the safety of pedestrians, is financed by the World Bank Group.

Gauff Ingenieure and PB Consult, which have been engaged in road infrastructure design and construction for more than two decades, are the two German companies involved in the project. Alert Engineering Plc, a seven-year-old consulting firm that works on road and bridge construction, as well as transport and traffic management activities in the capital, is the local partner.

The three companies will engage in concept development, detailed engineering design work and prepare a tender document for the implementation of the project in the coming eight months. The companies will also supervise the project during two years of implementation.

The project covers 1.1-square-kilometre area and encompasses the area between Fitawrari Habte Giorgis Street in the north, Central African Republic Street and Dejazmach Mekonen Demisew Street in the west, Uganda Street in the south and Tesema Aba Kemaw Street in the east, following the Addis Light Rail route.

The project is set to improve pedestrian and vehicular mobility and expand parking provision and public transport, according to Moges Tibebu, director general of the Addis Abeba City Roads Authority, owner of the project.

Walking is the main mode of mobility in the capital and accounts for an estimated 70pc of trips, followed by public transport at 26pc and private motorised transport at four percent.

Even though the proportion of pedestrian deaths has dropped from 82pc to 76pc in the past year, pedestrians still make up the overwhelming majority of fatalities, according to the 2018 report by Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety.

The City Road Transport Bureau is implementing the project, while the city’s Traffic Agency is the beneficiary.

“The project will be implemented in line with the city’s master plan on using limited space efficiently,” said Behailu G. Eyesus, head of the Transport System Improvement Program Implementation Unit at the Addis Abeba Road Transport Bureau.

“The design will solve the traffic congestion of the area,” Behailu told Fortune.

Merkato, which literally mean “marketplace” in Italian, is the largest open market in the country and is known for having overwhelming business and traffic activity in the city. The latest data from the Addis Ketema district shows that the district where the marketplace is located has a  population of 271,644.

A transport management lecturer thinks that the design by itself cannot solve the problem.”To alleviate the congestion, additional remedies are needed,” Berhanu Zeleke (PhD), who has worked at Kotebe Metropolitan University’s Department of Urban Transport Management for over two decades, said. “Constructing overpass bridges and cable cars can be options.”

A month ago the City Road & Transport Bureau already started the design of an Intelligent Transport System Master Plan, an integrated program for traffic management and pedestrian safety, with 600 million Br in financing from the World Bank.

Fortune

Participants of the community-based climate conference of Least Develop Countries (LDCs) stressed that the solutions to climate resilience and adaptation are found at grass-root levels.A participant from Niger, Ababale Mahamane Sanoussi told ENA that “we know about the problems of climate change, and the solutions for me are at grass roots.”

The Nigerien Technical Advisor for Climate Learning and Advocacy for Resilience Program added that the big challenge is to link community-based adaptation with the community and come out with something that can benefit for the community through action at community level.The conference is useful to learn and share experiences coming from the grass-roots, he stated.

Climate Justice Resilience Fund Director, Heather McGray said on her part the participants are building knowledge around community-based adaptation to build trust in their relationship.McGray stated that her organization is supporting the grassroots to build their own solutions to climate change.“We are particularly supporting women’s organizations and indigenous peoples and youth,” she added.

According to her, the organization has about 20 participants from partner organizations who have been giving presentations on climate change at the conference.Global Green Growth Institute Country Program Advisor, Gebru Jember pointed out that the focus is on sharing the experiences of the respective communities of participants and taking lesson to enhance climate resilience and adaptation as it needs bottom up approach to alleviate the problem.

He added that all countries should get involved in the effort to reduce green house gas emission as forest fire, drought, landslide, flood and heat waves as well as decline in productivity are becoming common challenges caused by climate change.Gebru stated that the participants are sharing experiences and expected to find resilient and sustainable solution for the adverse impact of climate change.

About 300 experts, practitioners, government representatives, policy makers and donors are in attendance of the four-day 13th International Annual Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA).

ENA

A community-based climate conference of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) organized with the objective of sharing experiences and understandings how communities can adopt to climate change kicked off in Addis Ababa  today.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Chief Environment Officer of Bhutan and conference chairperson Tenzin Wangmo said the 13rd Annual Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) is a critical component for finding solutions for protecting communities and the environment from the impacts of climate change.

She added that the conference is expected to increase the desire of member states to mobilize their respective populations to create climate resilient society by 2020.

Climate change has been affecting the lives of hundred millions of people around the world and the global eco-system has suffered a huge loss due to the change in climate.

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commissioner, Fekadu Beyene said climate change needs global effort to address its adverse impacts as it is a global phenomenon that is currently imposing one of the biggest threats to the lives of the people.

“The impacts of climate change do not discriminate between the rich and the poor. However, the poor and the disadvantaged groups suffer most both in the short and long terms,” he noted.

Unless LDCs are engaged in building resilience and adapting capacity building programs, the commissioner said, adding that climate change will bring great loss to them. Hence, this requires a concerted effort by everyone.

Fekadu pointed out that experts, practitioners, government representatives, policy makers and donors participating in the four-day conference are expected to share their experiences and find resilient and sustainable solution for the adverse impact of climate change.

walta

The City Road & Transport Bureau has hired three companies that will supervise the design of an Intelligent Transport System Master Plan, an integrated program for traffic management and pedestrian safety.
Expected to cost 600 million Br and financed by the World Bank, the project will integrate traffic management and pedestrian safety throughout Addis Abeba by way of corridor and intersection improvements using traffic management technologies.
The system also provides real-time traffic information to commuters, which enhances their safety and comfort by reducing traffic congestion and longer trip times.The lead German consultancy firm, H.P. Gauf Ingeieure Gmbh & Co, will jointly undertake the project with PTV Transport Consultant Gmbh and WYG International B.V.
Gauf secured the project after vying against 36 other international companies that expressed interest, with six finalists making the cut.

The Bureau will be installing the system to improve five main corridors, 132 road junctions, 22 existing signalised locations and 27 other on-going intersections. The six-year project comprises of detailed study and design of construction corridors, road junctions and traffic management centre.The project is intended to regulate traffic management in the city in order to reduce traffic, according to Behailu G. Eyesus, head of the Transport System Improvement Program Implementation Unit.
The development of the master plan will optimise the existing system by using efficient design, according to Behailu.
Corridors that extend from the British Embassy to Africa Avenue; from Arat Kilo to Atikilt Tera; St. George Church to Gojam Berenda; Arat Kilo to Bras Hospital; and Dej Omer Semeter School to the Grand Palace are the five corridors selected for the project.Implemented in two phases, the first phase includes a study and design, while phase two comprises supervision work and capacity building. Installation of CCTV cameras and traffic lights, will also be included in the project.

The roads in the city are becoming more congested, according to Tamene Belle, communications director for the City Traffic Management Agency.”More than 20,000 additional vehicles join the roads every year, fueling the traffic congestion in the city,” he said.The total number of registerd vehicles during 2017/18 was 553,938.
At the same time accidents are increasing in the city. Reports show that more than 456 people, mostly pedestrians, die by car accidents every year. A year ago the city recorded 478 deaths, 3,133 injuries and 28,289 road accidents.
Fekadu Gurmessa (PhD), a lecturer on transport geography at the Addis Abeba University for more than a decade, commends the project.

He says that the city is growing in size faster than the infrastructure development in the capital. Therefore, more people cause more road congestion and accidents.To solve the problem sustainably, he suggests the implementation of a motorisation policy, which promotes more use of public transport for controlling traffic congestion.
“For the best implementation of the new system, the city needs additional ring roads to create alternative road connections,” Fekadu said.

Fortune