Project description

Title: Low Cost Housing Construction
Commissioned by: Addis Ababa City Government
Financier: Addis Ababa City Government, Ethiopia
Country: Ethiopia
Overall term: 2003 to 2009

Context

The drastic housing shortage in Ethiopian cities has resulted in spontaneous settlement by the poor in peri-urban areas and within the cities. Addis Ababa alone needs as many as 300,000 additional housing units. Exacerbating the situation is the country's annual population growth of 6-8 %. As many as 85 % of current dwellings have serious defects. The Ethiopian Government has responded to this situation by accelerating the pace of housing construction. Today, the municipal administration of Addis Ababa has made its housing construction programme a political priority.

Objective

The housing shortage in Ethiopia has been reduced, and middle-income Ethiopian families receive support to become home owners.

Approach

Low-cost housing (LCH) is above all a matter of cost-efficiency in construction, which can best be achieved by standardising the building components and reducing the number of them required. LCH technology was first used in Tigray province and was then taken up in other regional capitals of Ethiopia.

Since September 2003, the main activity of the project has been to advise the municipal administration of Addis Ababa on planning and implementation its Addis Ababa Grand Housing Program, which is aimed at the expansion of available living space. Construction takes place using simple LCH technology involving prefabricated components.

People who want to move into the apartment buildings become owners and pay 30 % of the construction costs. The remainder is financed through building loans over a 15-year term, while the municipal administration provides advance funding. In the socially integrated settlements, which include municipal infrastructure facilities, the residents themselves are responsible for the maintenance of their houses.

Following the first successful GTZ LCH pilot projects, in 2003, the municipal administration commissioned GTZ International Services (GTZ-IS) with the construction of 11,000 new apartments at 21 sites with a budget of EUR 50 million. The Ethiopian Government has since resolved to use GTZ's LCH technology all future public-financed construction.

Results achieved so far

11,000 apartments at 21 sites were handed over to the client, providing affordable quality housing.

Download of Project Material

• Cultural Heritage Promotion
  An exemplary restoration of a historic buildung in Kasanchis, Addias Abeba/Ethiopia
  de-ethiopia-Cultural-Heritage-Promotion-A.pdf, 3.12 MB (English)
  de-ethiopia-Cultural-Heritage-Promotion-B.pdf, 2.30 MB (English)
• Fact sheet: Cultural heritage Ethiopia
  en-ethiopia-Cultural-heritage-Ethiopia.pdf, 0.25 MB (English)
• Fact sheet: Promoting the Construction Sector
  en-ethiopia-Promoting-the-Construction-Sector.pdf, 0.30 MB (English)
• Low cost housing. Technical Manual. Vol. I
  en-low-cost-housing-ethiopia-technical-manual-I.pdf, 2.59 MB (English)
• Low cost housing. Technical Manual. Vol. II
  en-low-cost-housing-ethiopia-technical-manual-II.pdf, 2.65 MB (English)