condominium housing in ethiopia - International Union of Tenants

2.4 Case studiesTwo case studies are presented here to give a descriptiveoverview of how the IHDP projects are implemented.They are from different points in time and thereforedifferent stages in the IHDP: Bole Gerji was a relativelysmall pilot project on a brown-field site and led by GTZand Lideta was an inner-city upgrading project that wasthe first project to use a ground floor plus seven storeys(G+7) condominium typology.Bole Gerji – the condominium pilot projectBole Gerji in Addis Ababa was the first condominiumproject to be constructed in Ethiopia. It was initiated byGTZ and the Addis Ababa City Administration in 2002,following a request from the Mayor. The first masterplan for the design of the project was drawn by renownedarchitect Fasil Giorgis and accommodated 750 housingunits, composed of studios, 1 and 2-bedroom typologies;an office building and several commercial units. Thescheme was the first major building project in AddisAbaba to introduce sub-contractors which, in turn,avoided the formation of stack-profits. During its launchFigure 29: Lottery winners are announced around the cityHDPO Headquarters, Addis Ababa. © UN-HABITAT/ Katherine Hegabin 2004, GTZ was the managing agent for the Bole Gerjisite working on behalf of the City Government in theirhiring of contractors and daily labourers, who weredirectly employed by GTZ.As the project was the first of its kind in Ethiopia, itreceived considerable support for its constructionand major work was completed in a stint of eightmonths, although some elements remained unfinished.Government agencies had been responsible for thedelivery of the water supply and electricity so as to reducecosts further, but these bodies proved to be inefficient.External plastering was not carried out before it was timeFigure 30: Accumulated rubbish adjacent to condominiumbuildings Mikililand condominium site, Addis Ababa.© UN-HABITAT/ Katherine Hegabfor residents to move in and, as a result, the exposedwalls suffered from weathering. Internal walls withineach unit remained absent of plaster to keep costs to aminimum, so people undertook the role of plasteringthe internal surfaces themselves. Unfortunately, theyfollowed this by pouring the plaster residue onto theGTZ-landscaping and killing many of the flowers.Since the condominiums were transferred, they havebeen criticised for their substandard quality and lack ofsynchronisation between separate construction eventsat the time of their erection. However, the governmentsay they have learned from their mistakes at Bole Gerjiand amongst their new moves, they have made it arequirement to plaster all houses both internally andexternally on future project sites. As this was the PilotProject, the lottery draw system of condominiumallocation had not been established and most units werenot distributed at random; instead they were given toGovernment employees already living in Gerji, andbusinessmen, architects and lawyers.Community groups have been self-formed and betweenthemselves, residents plastered and painted theircommunal parts, planted new pockets of landscapingand organised the security gate separating the site fromthe main road.Lideta – the first inner-city relocation project in AddisAbabaOne of the challenges faced by the programme regardingthe introduction of new condominium developmentsto Addis Ababa has been in the scarcity of empty land.Once all of the Government-owned brown-field sites inCondominium Housing in ethiopia31