Ethiopia: Bahir Dar Residents Slam City Land Plan for ‘Excluding’ Private Workers, Longtime Savers
Addis Abeba — Residents of Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara Regional State, are voicing criticism against the city administration’s new residential land provision plan, calling it “non-inclusive” and saying it “excludes” private sector workers and individuals who have been saving through housing cooperatives for the past three years.
Speaking to Addis Standard, several residents said they had been making monthly contributions to housing cooperatives with the understanding that land would eventually be distributed to them. However, they now say the city’s plan prioritizes government employees, leaving them out despite years of savings.
The residents’ concerns follow an announcement last week by Goshu Endalemaw, First Mayor of Bahir Dar city, who said the administration is preparing to provide land to approximately 500 housing cooperatives organized for government employees and pensioners. The initiative, he said, is part of efforts to address the housing shortage by organizing residents into self-help housing cooperatives and will be carried out in three phases.
“Government employees will benefit in the first phase,” the mayor said, adding that in the second phase, “authorized security personnel will be served alongside government employees.” In the third phase, he explained, “regular residents will be accommodated.”
However, residents not employed by the government argue that the plan disregards their contributions and long-term savings.
One resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told Addis Standard, “We have been organized in a cooperative and making monthly payments for three years.” He added that they recently heard “non-government employees will not be given residential land, and that priority should be given only to government workers.”
The resident, who earns a living through private business, explained, “I was contributing 1,000 birr monthly through the cooperative I registered with. We joined with the understanding that we would make additional payments when the time came for land distribution.” However, he added, “because we are not government employees, this opportunity has passed us by.”
“We could have invested our money, time, and hope in something else. Three years is not a short time. We were saving, thinking we would receive land,” the resident said.
Another resident, also speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed his frustration over the city administration plan, recalling paying monthly contributions for about three years to acquire residential land.
“Twenty-four people in our cooperative have been making their monthly payments,” he said. “Now that there appears to be no hope, we have decided to stop our savings.”
Addis Standard’s attempts to speak with Bahir Dar City Administration officials for further clarification were unsuccessful.
However, First Mayor Goshu, in a public remark, explained that regular residents were placed in the third phase of the plan due to issues related to identification cards. He stated that “many individuals possess fake IDs” and claimed that “non-city residents are using these identification cards” to access services.
Addressing this issue, Goshu said, “preparations have been completed to fully replace the current identification system with a digital one,” adding that the new system will be developed in collaboration with the regional technology bureau.
Crédito: Link de origem