In Depth Ethiopia’s corridor development project epidemic: progress or calamity?
February 1, 2025
The past couple of weeks have seen the Prime Minister pay visits to Gonder and Jimma for a tour of the corridor development projects being undertaken by their respective administrations. The visit to Gonder, where renovation work on the historic Fasil Ghebbi is wrapping up as part of the project, drew its fair share of attention, but the trip to Jimma has left a stronger impression of the corridor development initiative and its impacts.
The PM traveled to Jimma with a sizable entourage that included most of the senior members of the Oromia Prosperity Party, who flocked to the area to pay homage to Abiy Ahmed’s birthplace of Agaro—a small town near Jimma.
Following the visit, which included a boat tour on one of the many lakes in the vicinity, the Prime Minister praised the residents of Jimma for their enthusiasm and cooperation in the corridor development project.
“People who were relocated to make way for the corridor development in Jimma did not request compensation,” he stated.
However, reports contradicting the statement have since surfaced. Several Jimma residents say they were stiffed on compensation payments after leaving behind their homes and properties.
The reports are growing increasingly common in Addis Ababa and urban areas across the country, as the corridor development initiative takes root even in small towns a year after it began in the capital under the auspices of the Prime Minister.
In Addis Ababa and elsewhere (particularly in several small towns on the road to Debre Birhan), many relocated residents told The Reporter that they were given very short notice, typically days, before they were forced to leave their homes behind for the demolition crews.
The initiative is also plagued by unfair and opaque compensation calculation mechanisms, and disproportionately valued replacement housing. Residents in the capital, who have been relocated to the outskirts, cite a lack of infrastructure and basic services, such as difficulty in finding schools for their children, as part of the challenges that have come with the corridor development project.
“From living in our own house in Kazanchis, we now have to live in a studio at Arabsa condominium,” said one resident, who told The Reporter their family was instructed to leave as they prepared to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year.
“We left with insufficient information and inadequate compensation. There is no water [in Arabsa] and schools are far away. We’ve lost many things,” said the resident.
The old and storied neighborhood of Kazanchis is unrecognizable today, as bulldozers and excavators trawl the streets of what had been a lively and densely populated part of central Addis Ababa. Most of its former residents have been forced to move to the city’s peripheries, starting over in places like Gelan Gura and Bole Arabsa.
The resident who spoke to The Reporter said municipal officials were unwilling to provide information about the relocations, nor listen to complaints.
“The moment we try to complain, they bring security forces and intelligence officers to threaten us. A lot of people have been detained on accusations of hampering a government project,” said the resident.
Who is funding the project and how remains a closely guarded secret, and the government has yet to disclose its methods for calculating compensations for affected residents.
The corridor development blueprint for the segment stretching from Piassa to Wello Sefer through Mexico Square, Sarbet, and Kera indicates that 3,250 households and close to 14,200 people would be subject to onsite relocation interventions.
Project planners have allocated six billion birr for compensation payments to residents and businesses in the area, while the City Administration has previously stated it would cost 40 billion birr to redevelop the segment. However, city officials have also aired ambitions to raise almost 100 billion birr in revenue by leasing the cleared land in this segment alone to private developers.
The mismatch has led many to conclude that the government is lowballing residents in their compensation payments, eyeing a tidy profit in future property auctions.
Despite government officials’ keenness to portray the project as a much-needed facelift for the city and as a beacon of high-standard urbanization and green development in the country, experts warn that the initiative is dragging many further into poverty.
They argue that the initiative is superficial and does not address the underlying infrastructure deficits Addis Ababa is facing, including long-standing issues with water supply, electricity, drainage, roads, pedestrian walkways, and others.
Many say the arbitrary execution of the project has created fertile ground for corruption, particularly regarding who gets compensation payouts.
During a parliamentary session last week, legislators raised concerns over how the initiative is executed.
“The initiation of corridor development projects in big cities is showing good results. However, the trend is catching on in small towns. The initiation of projects in small and large cities simultaneously is draining the government budget. Coupled with rising inflation and delays, the project is raising complaints from residents. How is the Ministry regulating the corridor development initiative?” asked one MP.
Chaltu Sani, minister of Urban and Infrastructure Development, who was in Parliament to present a half-year report, responded.
“Though highly politicized, the corridor development initiative is having a positive impact,” said the Minister.
Chaltu criticized city and town administrations for their arbitrary implementation of the project and indicated the project envisions covering 40 percent of urban land with green areas.
“For us, the issue of urban greenery is not about aesthetics, it is an existential issue for our urban areas. The corridor development initiative is also about just property distribution and economic equality. We have revised urban plans. Corridor development projects are not for the government or for some political party, but for urban residents. Property values are also climbing. People are taking walks, contributing to resident health,” the Minister told MPs.
Fifty-eight cities and urban centers in Ethiopia are implementing their own corridor development projects, according to Chaltu.
However, the real number is likely higher.
“Which cities and towns should carry out corridor development projects, and which ones should not? This is the right question raised by the MPs. So far, even very small towns across the country are working on corridor development initiatives. We are seeing them demolishing properties even though they don’t have a single building. This is very wrong,” said Chaltu.
The Ministry has laid down guidelines that dictate which cities and towns should take part, with criteria involving population, economic activity, and potential impact, according to Chaltu.
“But even towns with one or two kebeles are embarking on corridor projects. This is not what the plan was. The plan is to carry out corridor development projects only in major cities and towns. What is happening is very wrong,” said the Minister.
The issue was also a top agenda during the recent Prosperity Party central committee meeting. The committee decided to halt the demolition of property, according to Chaltu.
“In areas where demolition has been undertaken already, corridor projects should be properly developed and available for public use. People who are displaced from these areas also should get jobs in housing projects. That was what was decided by the party and the government,” said the Minister.
She told MPs the project’s positive outcomes outweigh its negative impacts.
“Even medicines have side effects. But by and large, corridor projects have fundamentally changed our urban image, society and improved economic activity,” said Chaltu.