Ethiopian Review

Addis Abeba’s Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Agency is to outsource three public parks by the end of the current year.

The Yeka, Kaleb and Teklehaimanot public parks in Yeka and Lideta districts, which jointly cover 31,452Sqm of land will be put up for private grabs on lease by the end of 2009.

The three parks under the agency are among the 15 which the agency has been running in addition to the 16 new parks it took over from the Addis Abeba Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in January 2009.

During the implementation of the pilot Business Process Reengineering (BPR), the agency, established six years ago, proposed to take over the parks, which were under the city’s EPA.

“These parks had not shown any growth,” Alemeshet Kebede, Park and Cemetery Development officer, who also took part in the BPR study of the agency, told Fortune. “We have the mandate to take over, administer and develop parks in the city.”

During its BPR study, the agency proposed that park development activities and related administrative works should be given to it under the “one stop for related services” principle. The city administration approved the proposal four months ago.

“Park administration had to be under the agency because the public doesn’t have to go to different places for services that can be found at one place,” the officer told Fortune.

From the total 16 new parks, Yeka, Nefas Silk Lafto, Akaki Kality districts have two parks each, while Lideta and Gullele own three and four, respectively. Bole, Kolfe Keranio and Kirkos districts each have one new recreational area.

Arada and Addis Ketema do not have any parks transferred to the Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Agency under the current batch.

“We have plans to develop parks in the area around St. Amanuel Church in Addis Ketema District,” Alemeshet said.

Though the agency now has 31 parks under it supervision, it is nonetheless confronted with the challenges of handling the issues of residents in already identified parks, according to Alemeshet.

For instance, out of the 15 parks which were administered by the Agency, Ferensay, Biheretsige, Golla and Afencho Ber parks have residents settled inside them, making it complicated for the agency to outsource the public recreational facilities.

But the park administering agency is undertaking constructions of bridges as most of the parks are along river banks, and in some cases, compound fences for fountains are erected.

“The agency’s main target is to develop these centres and ready them for public use at a reasonably affordable price or free of charge,” Alemeshet said.

It has already outsourced Ambassador and Africa parks, along Taitu and Menelik streets, respectively. Ambassador is already rendering service, while the latter has not yet started services due to security reasons and the lack of parking space for users.

There are a total of 31 parks in the city, 15 already developed, covering over 800,000Sqm of land altogether, and 16 new ones with a total area of more than 3,416,500Sqm.

- By HILINA ALEMU | Addis Fortune