It seems like everywhere you go in Gonder, there is construction. Hotels, houses, hospitals, statues, schools, sidewalks, bridges, and roads spring up before your eyes. Within the past couple of weeks I discovered three new hotels in my neighborhood and traveled on two recently completed highways. For small-scale projects scaffolding is made from wood, cement is mixed without a machine, stones are cut by hand, and wheelbarrows and mules are employed. For large-scale projects modern machinery is used and foreigners, such as the Chinese, consult and advise.
Construction on College |
Construction on College |
Construction at the Gondar University Hospital |
The construction in Gonder reflects broader patterns in infrastructure development occurring throughout Ethiopia. The country is about twice the size of Texas, with 17% of the population living in urban areas. As of 2010 there were 17 airports with paved runways and 44 airports with unpaved runways. Only 19% of Ethiopia's 36,469 km of roadways are paved (2007).
Ethiopia produces 3,715 billion kWh of electricity annually and uses 3,357 billion kWh (2008). The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, a government-run monopoly, manages the country's telephone system. Data from 2010 reveals that there are roughly 908,900 main telephone lines and 6,517 million mobile cellular phones (CIA World Factbook).
Under the Ethiopian Constitution, the state owns all land and provides long-term leases to tenants. This prevents entrepreneurs from using land as collateral for loans, thus serving as a serious impediment to industrial growth. According to the Ethiopian Business Development Services Network, the construction sector faces the following obstacles: dependence on imports for equipment and materials, strict government regulations, scarcity of financing, competition from large, experienced international firms like MIDROC, difficulty establishing relationship with customs, and lack of skilled labor.
Building and maintaining a modern and safe infrastructure is paramount to connecting remote parts of Ethiopia to cultural and economical centers, facilitating trade and tourism, creating jobs and strengthening domestic industries. It looks like Ethiopia is on the right path but additional reforms need to be made for the country to reach its full potential.
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