Shelter Design and Development

Housing Development and Management in Dire Dawa City

Mesfin Eshetu
Management Advisor
Dire Dawa City Manager Office, Ethiopia

1. Shelter Situation Analysis

1.1. Basic General Data

Ethiopia, with the population of over 81 million, is among the bottom of the least developed country.
The widespread and multi faced poverty manifest itself through its lowest per capital income which is
currently estimated to be US$110 and highest reliance on agriculture compared with similar least
developed countries (LDCs). Life expectancy at birth is 50 years, infant mortality and child mortality
rates are 118 and 173 per 1000 life births respectively, literacy rate is about 75 percent for females and
55 for males and gross enrollment ratio at primary level of education is 83 present (Zerihun 2007).

Though more than 85% of the country's population are rural and high dependency on agriculture, the
rapidly expanding urbanization and population which is estimated to be 12 million with annual growth
rate of 4.4% couldn't contribute enough for the nation's economic development and global competition
by serving as the center of commerce, industry, information and communication technology, skilled
manpower, education and research and finance.

In contrast cities in Ethiopia, characterized by slums and poor housing, unemployment, low income,
poor infrastructural services, absence of good governance and so on. Therefore, to benefit from the role
of cities in economic development and to reverse the adverse urban condition, the government of
Ethiopia, recently has given due attention to cities by formulating different policies, packages and
projects to cope up with the fast growing urbanization which was only 17 percent in 2002 and expected
to reach 30.1% by 2020 with the current growing rate of 6% per year.

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Dire Dawa as the second largest city next to the capital Addis Ababa, has got the same focus which
establish "Dire Dawa Restructuring and Development Project Office"two years ago, to undertake
situational analysis of the city and identify critical issues for further move.
Dire dawa town, located in the eastern part of the country, has an estimated total land area of
1288km2. It is located 515km east of Addis Ababa with altitude of 1200 masl . Dire Dawa has an
annual rainfall of 604mm & mean annual temperature of 24.8 c. The town has good infrastructures
established in early days , such as asphalt road , rail way that connects with Djibouti, international air
port, modern postal service, internet, hospitals , schools, etc.

. In spite of its previous relatively better, infrastructure, 7 government and private factories and the
widespread contraband trade that had created the major employment opportunity could not ensure real
and sustainable development. Reduction in the contraband trade, deterioration of the factories, absence
of additional investment, uncultivatable and low annual rain full in the rural, coupled with delayed
recognition of the administration as autonomous legal entity, have contributed significantly to high
unemployment & poverty.
In the 1950,& 1960, Dire Dawa was an industrial town but latter on 91970&1980 ) with the
industry lagging behind , the situation changed & commerce started to play a leading role in the local
as well as the national economy to some extent. It is worth nothing at this juncture that most of the
commercial activities that “boomed “ in Dire Dawa in those days were illegal & macro economically
harmful contraband trade . While the contraband trade was closed, the livelihood most people engaged
in the business had no alternative rather simply expend what they have & latter on became unemployed.

. The poverty profile of Ethiopia revealed that people under absolute poverty are 41.2. at national level
and 37 in urban areas. Regionally , Dire Dawa has 33.1% of poverty incidence in 2000 and currently
the figure has increased to 36% & highest as compared to other Ethiopian town with exception of
Tigray region, 61% .

The same survey result revealed that the rate of unemployment for urban areas at country level is about
23%, whereas for Dire Dawa City is 33.5% which is the highest in the country. Dependency ratio at
national level is 131.7 and for Dire Dawa,it is 128% . Life expectancy at birth is 50.3 for male and 52

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years for women infant mortality and child mortality rates are 122 and 103 per 1000 life births
respectively. Literacy is 53% for women and 76.6 for men.Gross primary enrollment is 84.4%.

1.2. Shelter Related Facts & Figures

Although, it is true that, among other things shelter is the basic need as well as right of human beings,
shortages and conditions of residential housing units in Dire Dawa city has been deteriorated from
period to period. According to the research conducted by NUPI in 1990, there were about 24,354
housing unit in Dire Dawa city with corresponding number of households of about 28,432. It was also
observed that the housing growth rate from the year 1984 to 1990 was about 1.77% .

Owing to the proliferation of informal house construction after four years, it escalated to be 36,382 (67%
private, 28% kebeles 4% RHA and 1% organization) and the number of households to 38,189. 97.3% of
those housing units were estimated to be non storied buildings and only 1.2% is multi storied building).

Assuming constant housing growth rate of 1.77% currently it is estimated that there are about 45,702
house units (73% private, 23% kebele, 3% RHR and 1% organization). Based on the nature of
construction 93% of the total housing unit, are permanent, which implies that their structure has been
expected to maintain its stability for ten or more years. 5.7% are improved housing unit, 0.1% is mobile
housing units, and others constitute 1.2%.

Regarding housing quality, in terms of construction materials and rates of occupancy, out of the total
house stock, about 30.5% walls are built up of wood mud walls, 26.4% stone and cement and about
17% made up of stone and mud , while the percentage share of blockets and bricks are insignificant
constituting only 12.6%, & other materials constitute 13.5%.

With regard to Construction materials of roof, it is estimated that 92% of roofs are corrugated iron sheet
and the rest 8% have roofs of wood, mud and other materials. The other factor affecting the quality of
housing unit is the floor where 50% have cement and concrete floors and about 44.4% have mud floors
and the rest insignificant percentage shared by cement or brick tiles, plastic tiles, wood tiles, and others.

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The density of housing occupancy in the city indicates highly crowded housing units According to UN
recommendation for classifying overcrowd ness, the density of housing occupancy in the city indicates
highly crowded housing units . It is estimated that 1.8% under occupied, 39.5% adequately occupied,
57.2% over occupied. The percentage distribution of housing units by number of rooms indicates 70.4, ,
17.61 , 5.1 and 9.9 percent are with1, 2, 3, 4 & above rooms respectively The density of residential
housing units per hectare for Dire Dawa city is estimated to be 15.60 on gross area with variations
among the 9 kebeles.

In Ethiopia, land is owned by government & it is leased for 99 years in urban areas. But housing
tenure which can play a paramount importance for the over all economic advancement and housing
development, is not adequately secured. Currently out of the total housing stock 73% owned privately
which increased by 6% over the last ten years, In contrast government owned housing stock declined by
6% from 32% to 26% with in the same period due to absence of housing development by the
government. And of the total private owned houses, more than 30 percent are built on illegally occupied
lands and this has made about 60% of the total housing units, including government houses, dead
capital. I.e. they cannot be transacted exchanged and mortgaged in the formal market. It also hinders
infrastructural expansion and service provision.

These informal housing units cover an area of 384.24 hactar mostly located at potential development
and expansion areas of the city with generally, poor conditions. The major reason can be categorized in
to socio-economic political and institutional constraints in general and among other things high
population growth, lack of formal land supply and low level of income or high unemployment in
particular.

Housing demand in the city both own and rental with insignificant response, increases from time to time.
Data collected from kebeles and rental housing authority prevails that applicants for rental house were
estimated to be 4176 and 1970 respectively from year 1994 to 2003. Currently around 160 housing
cooperatives with more than 3500 members & 1243 individuals have requested & are waiting for plot of
land for residential house construction. From 1991-1995 it was only 1302 individuals and 5 cooperatives
with 106 members provided with plot of land.

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 The past accumulated housing shortages and the rapidly growing population (4.4% per year) coupled
with un proportionate housing development(1.77%) resulted in the current housing deficit of 24387 .
( i.e. 70089 no of household (2900 household growth rate per year required housing unit 45702).
Moreover assuming constant proportion of overcrowd ness of 1994, it is estimated that in order to
relive existing overcrowd ness of 57.2% there is a need to build about 25240 housing units.
Inappropriately built up housing units which is estimated to be about 7% total housing units need to be
reconstructed.

Affordability of housing units is determined by the cost of construction, household income and source of
finance; According to infrastructure development and construction permit authority, there have been six
types of residential house designs in the city. Four of them required 160m2 ranging from grade 1-4 with
cost of 14249, 19895, 21474, 27896 birr respectively. The other two requires 200 m2 and 250 m2 with
estimated cost of Birr 52345 and 60471 respectively. The cost of construction per m2 was estimated to
be 817 birr/m2 during the period 1999-2005 where major construction materials were very cheap and
with the existing inflation rate of 17% it is hard to construct housing unit for medium level income
earning population unless &otherwise long term loan is available.

The current cost of the major construction materials summarized in the table below.

Reinforcement Corrugated Hollow Wood

Item Cement Sand Quarry Gravel Bar iron sheet con. "atana"
block
Unit 50kg 7m3 7m2 m3 kg no no no
Price
1999 35.63 83 110 65 3.95 39 13.74 7.67
2004 65 110 150 70 6.95 50 2.50 6.67
Current 96 140 270 93 9.90 90 350 12

In contrast with the continuously increasing cost of construction, the economic capacity of the
community did not improved as such. With the fall of Derge regime in 1990, the country followed
Federal system of government which established regional states excluded Dire Dawa until recent period
deprived its legal status that affect economically socially and politically. It is manifested through low -

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level of investments, unemployment, absence of clear direction of development and good governance,
poor service provision especially urban land supply.

.However, some efforts has already been started by legally establishing the provisional administration as
autonomous entity accountable to federal ministry of works and urban development that level the ground
and facilitate further socio-economic undertakings, except its boundary delineation remains ahead. In
addition to” Dire Dawa restructuring and development projects”, that began two years ago. Nationally
initiated " Cities Industry and Urban Development" package with " Integrated Housing Development" as
its major component , is an encouraging effort which is believed to solve urban housing problems and at
the same time building construction capacity and create employment opportunity .

Dire Dawa Adopt Federally Developed "Urban Development" policy that integrate different
stakeholders and activities around housing development, such as land and infrastructure, micro and
small enterprises, micro finance, technical and vocational training institutions and others. The
municipality in general and housing development project office in particular will have the major role to
promote and coordinate housing development by cooperatives, individuals, real estate developers and
the government.

The adopted urban housing policies touches issues that are related to the provision of affordable
housing, housing market, housing finance, building materials, institutions and regulatory frameworks
with specified objectives & targets.
Regarding spatial plan , the city has encountered with long standing problems related to density &
building height, land use development, linkage &coordination, applicable master plan and floods
hazards. The master plan developed by NUPI (National Urban Planning Institute) in 1994 was
incomplete & currently is found on revision to encompass major issues with direction of application.
Inappropriate & incompatible land holdings by factories, military camps &illegal settlers, high density,
horizontal expansion, incompatible land development with the demand, poor infrastructure service &
coverage, absence of regulatory frameworks & guidelines, poor linkage & integration among
infrastructure developers, insemination of the city: boundary & conflict with neighboring rural, and
inner city river streams with potential flood hazards are the major spatial problems.

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Among other factors affecting urban development, the effectiveness of the municipality play the major
role with multiplying effect on other factors, as the provision of urban land for housing and other
investments, infrastructural facilities, basic services and even the development and administration of
housing itself is the responsibility of the city manager office.

The municipal functions structured separately from other governmental functions, as city manager office
with seven independent institutions under it and two desks at kebele level. The responsibility of
coordinating and supervising the works of these institutions (Housing Development Project Office, Land
dev't and Administration Authority, Road Authority, Infrastructural dev't and construction permit
Authority, Water and Sewerage Authority Sanitation and Beautification Agency and A batter Service
Enterprise) rests on the city manager office which structured itself with five supporting service (Legal,
Audit, Planning and Programming, Finance and Administration and Civil Service Reform and Public
Relation Services). Regulation and Vital service department, two Advisors (Management and Technical)
and one deputy manager.

Housing development as the core of urban sustainable development, in addition to coordination and
monitoring housing development projects with other municipal institutions, linking and integrating
internal and external stakeholders of the project would be hand led by manager with close support of
deputy manager and advisors, where I as a management advisor and PSCAP'S UMCB focal person
(public sector capacity building program, urban management capacity building sub-program)
responsible to support and advice the manager regarding organization, working systems and human
power of all municipal institutions, for instance I have already take part in the current organizational
structure of the project.

The project office structured with three departments. (Finance, Construction and contract administration,
design and quality control departments) Main sections (planning and documentation, general service and
administration) procurement and supply, Housing transfer and Administration and Micro and small
enterprise promotion main sections currently the project have a total of 89 staffs (25 degree 40 diploma
and 18 certificate holders) and the number of project site workers increase with the number of sites.

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 The major problems that contribute to the prevalence of high housing shortage &poor housing
conditions in Dire Dawa city are, among other things, shortage of infrastructure, high cost of
constraction,,high population growth rate, limited land supply, low level of savings, shortage of financial
sources, and absence of government policies &regulatory frameworks which resulted in general socio-
economic problems ,specifically, informal housing, over crowd ness ,poor service coverage, unplanned
urban growth ,environmental deterioration and so on.

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 SHELTER PROBLEMS AND PROJECT PROPOSALS

Housing shortages and poor housing qualities in the city has identified as a core problem that
emanated from different factors which were mentioned in the situational analysis .For the purpose of this
training ,I would like to focus on factors with in the scope of Municipal functions where can be
proposed for performance improvement .

Currently the city has adopted nationally developed “Integrated Housing Development Project” to
cons tract 12220 low cost housing units with in five years and planned to create employment opportunity
and build construction capacity in the process. Further more, the plan includes the creation of conducive
environment for other housing developers-individuals, cooperatives and investors, by providing serviced
urban plot of land, infrastructure and other municipal services.

However reality on the ground of the lap of the first year the municipality in general and the
project in particular shows low level of performance. Land supply, infrastructure and other service
provisions were inadequate even for the project leave alone for other developers. The constricted
housing units itself lacks basic infrastructures and services such as sanitation, pedestrian, parking, green
area and proper management of communal facilities.

The basic factors among others, is absence of proper planning and integration with in the municipal
functions and other stake holders. Recently, Infrastructure Development and Constractions works
Authority in general and planning unit particular invested with the city’s master plan in addition to the
already existing development plan, design, and the integration and coordination of infrastructures
development in the city. However it is not functioning as to the requirement and expectation. Therefore
strengthening the municipal functions specifically the planning unit enables proper shelter design and
development which is beyond the mere construction of hosing units.

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 Accordingly, the general objective of this proposal is building the capacity and awareness of municipal
institutions and other stakeholders towards the required competency and common understanding shelter
design and development though continuous consecutive awareness creation & consultation workshops,
training and experience sharing tours.

The specific objectives are

 Awareness creation workshop _for starting with municipal institutions up to kebele (grass
root) level based on the existing situational analysis and lessons learnt from this training and
exposure.
The same and continuous workshop for sector offices, NGO, cooperatives, civic societies
and the community at large

 Detail activities_

o Prepare terms of reference for each workshop

o Design presentation paper
o Further elaborate the situational analysis and support by pictures
o Link experience gained with the existing situations
o
 Expected outcomes

o Common understanding of shelter design and development by all stakeholders

o Appreciations of existing shelter situation
o Coordinated move towards the solution
o Improved performance and achievements

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 Performance indicators

o Complete and wholstic shelter design

o Improved supply of urban land and infrastructure
o Better integration and coordination

 Training

At least ten staffs selected from municipal institutions mainly from planning
unit will be trained on urban planning at National Urban planning Institute (or any
other institute)

 Expected outcomes

With the accomplishment of this objective there will be enhanced urban

planning and integrated housing development as a result of increased skills of staffs

 Experience sharing tours

Experience sharing tour in most probably, in South Africa, at least for ten days
For staffs selected from Housing Development Project Office, Land Development &
Administration Authority, Infrastructure Development &Consraction works
Authority, Road Authority, Water & Sewerage Authority , Sanitation &
Beutification Agency and City manager Office, including my self as team leader for
the group.

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  Expected out comes

o Practical skills from good practice of the same and similar back ground
o Better performance and coordination

To sum up based on this training and exposure gained so far and further discussion with my staffs
this proposal will be enriched towards more realistic objectives and action plan with my individual
engagement in the process as capacity building issue directly concerned me due to position as
Management Advisor and Urban Management Capacity Building Program focal person, of course
,building my own capacity in the pricess.

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