Corporation picks five industrial hub cities
Following this, the team crafted the spatial plan in tune with Ethiopia's 10-Year Perspective Plan. It incorporated the eight steps outlined in the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, according to Teferra. Using a Geographic Information System, optimal solutions were generated by factoring in various necessary industrial development components. The number of potential cities identified was 107.
The spatial plan also aims to be equitable in including the different regions of the country, according to Teferra.
"There have been considerations to accommodate smaller cities by adjusting some of the criteria," said Teferra.
The plan, which is focused on medium and high-level cities, has lowered the population caps that determine these cities' categorisation by 25,000 each.
It is to be revised every five years, taking into consideration the situational specifications of the country.
Alongside this, the plan proposes six potential areas for logistics parks in Adigrat, Semera, Metemma, Addis Abeba, Dire Dawa and Moyale. The logistics parks are intended to facilitate the export of products and are not sites for manufacturing.
Currently, there are 24 industrial parks in the country, and nearly all are operational. Seven of these parks are privately owned, while four are integrated agro-industrial parks developed by regional governments.
Though the industrial parks selection had proximity to urban areas or cities, experts believe that the industrial parks, in turn, can foster urbanisation.
The employment opportunities they provide along with the links in transportation and logistics overall helps build cities, according to Dagim Alemayehu, a spatial planning expert and lecturer at Addis Abeba University's Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction & City Development.
However, the industrial park planning trend in the past 30 years has shown a serious lack of ownership and implementation, he added.
"There have been areas marked off for industrial parks that later turned into real estate development sites," he said. "There needs to be a body that can take ownership of these plans and see them through implementation."
These types of plans require high-scale mobilisation as they have massive infrastructure implications, he explained.
"We need to ask whether there is the necessary skilled manpower, industry-fit professionals and timelines for these plans," said Dagim.
Read the original article on Addis Fortune.
