News: Addis Abeba City terminates lease worth 90 ha land fenced off, idle for long time
Addis Abeba: Addis Abeba city administration’s land development and administration bureau announced that it has terminated the contract for 90 hectares of land that it said has been fenced off and sitting idle for a long period of time.
Addis Abeba City Communication bureau quoted the head of the office, Dr. Kenea Yadeta, as saying that the leases of the land contracted to institutions and individuals in the city were terminated as the they were fenced off and sitting without services for long time. The bureau has also started taking measures on those responsible.
Among those whose contracts have been terminated include lease contracts issued since 2005 but have not been developed so far. Furthermore, some 1,200 projects that have not yet been completed according to contracts have been issued with warning to complete them on or before 07 July 2023.
Dr. Kenea, who was the former head of peace and security bureau of the city and recently moved to lead the land development management bureau, also said that theft and land garbing, the failure to modernize the sector and issues related to the justice system have been identified as areas that seek solutions and a direction has been put in place accordingly. According to him, so far only 25 percent of Addis Abeba’s land has been registered in the cadastre.
During his last appearance before parliament, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hinted at plans by the government to privatize urban land in what he said was an attempt to curb rampant practices of land grabbing by “brokers” and corrupt “government officials.”
Similarly, last week, Yilkal Kefale (PhD), President of Amhara Regional State, is reported to have sent a letter to zonal, regio-politan, and city administrations in the Amhara regional state barring the allocation of land in and around cities including the capital Bahir Dar on accounts of increasing practices of illegal land grabbing. AS
