Week-6: The Ethiopian Experience of

Integrated urban infrastructure planning

• Contents:
• Essential features of Integrated urban
infrastructure planning in developing countries.
• Challenges and opportunities in infrastructure
sector in less developed countries
• Status of infrastructural development in Ethiopia
• Key challenges to Ethiopian Urban
Infrastructures
• Mitigation of challenges Strategies
 Learning outcomes
• Having participated in this week’s presentations,
participants will be able to:
• Distinguish between the availability and accessibility
of infrastructures in developing countries.
• Major threats and challenges encountered by
infrastructures in developing countries.
• Appreciate the status of urban infrastructures and
their integration in Ethiopia.
• Evaluate the role of integrated infrastructures towards
socio-economic development of the country.
 Developing countries face chronic
deficiencies of infrastructures
• While most practitioners and people living in
developing countries know about chronic
infrastructure deficiencies,
• and it is possible to appeal to statistics showing
cruel deficiencies in sectors such as sanitation,
water or electricity,
• there is no completely satisfying way to
systematically document the state of
infrastructure in and across many poor countries.
 Urban Infrastructure in Developing
Countries: Essential features
• Most cities of the developing countries are faced with
various problems of which:
 high incidences of poverty and unemployment,
 poorly developed infrastructure,
 inadequate public services,
 acute and ever worsening shelter deficits and accelerated
environmental deterioration tend to be significant.
• These problems are mainly the result of the
• Mismatch between their rates of population growth and
their paces of economic development.
 The Ethiopian Experience of ICT

• Ethiopia's ICT sector currently suffers from a

poor institutional and regulatory framework.
• Addressing Ethiopia's infrastructure deficit
will require a sustained annual expenditure of
$5.1 billion over the next decade.
• The power sector alone requires $3.3 billion
annually, with $1 billion needed to facilitate
regional power trading.
 Integrated Urban Infrastructures accelerate the
pace of & economic development.
• Urban infrastructure is invariably linked with productivity
of urban economies and macro economic development.
• That is why upgrading and integrating of urban
infrastructure has received increasing attention over the
past few years.
• The focus on integrated urban infrastructure planning is
particularly visible among developing countries.
• Serious efforts are, however, needed to enhance the
productivity of their economies through improved
provision of infrastructures and their integration (Kulwant
singh et al, 1996)
 Infrastructure and urban productivity
• The urban trade-off is high productivity, derived from
agglomeration economies.
• Probably the most important mechanism is that urban
connectivity creates an environment where firms and
workers can become specialized and reach an efficient
scale of operation.
• The density of customers is large enough that firms can
achieve scale, and ease of communication between
customers and suppliers makes for product quality and
tailored design.
• There may be direct knowledge spillovers between firms.
• Former being referred to as localization (or Marshallian)
economies, and the latter as urbanization (or Jacob)
economies.
 Outcomes

• The arguments above suggest that urban infrastructure

brings down costs faced by firms, making the city a more
attractive place for inwards investment.
• Furthermore, infrastructure that increases connectivity
enables scale and specialization and so raises productivity.
• In the absence of good transport infrastructure, complex
economic activity is not possible as communication between
firms gets obstructed and individuals cannot get to work in
concentrated areas of employment.
• In consequence, a city that lacks connectivity cannot achieve
agglomeration benefits or generate high-productivity jobs.
 Locational advantage of land and
infrastructure.
• The appreciation in value of a particular piece of urban
land is not due to the actions of the land-owner, but due
to its location in the city and thence the collective
activity of the city including provision of urban
infrastructure.
• The equilibrium response of land prices to a transport
investment will generally mean that user-benefits end
up being passed from transport users to landowners.
• The user-benefit of the improvement is bid away by
higher rents, which are in turn capitalized in higher land
values.
Urban infrastructure in the developing world
suffers from lack of integration
• However, urban infrastructure in the developing world is often
subjected to
 haphazard planning,
 disjointed implementation and
 poor post installation management.
o Usually inadequate attention is given to the
o interdependencies between infrastructure systems,
o the urban functions to be served and
o to the sustainability of the facilities.
• The outcome is poor facility functions, early deterioration and
unwanted settlement development,
• Implying wasteful use of scarce resources.
 Status of Urban Infrastructure in Ethiopia

• Likewise, in the case of Ethiopia:

 The supply of infrastructure and services is continually
lagging behind the population growth rate.
 Ethiopian Urban centers are characterized by, among
others, lack/shortage of basic urban infrastructure and
services.
 In addition to that urban Infrastructures are not
scientifically integrated.
 They also lack integration among institutions,
stakeholders and the community.
 Status of Urban Infrastructure in Ethiopia
(Contd.)
• It is also vividly observed that the existing scanty
infrastructure and services in some urban centers of
Ethiopia are deteriorating.
• Mainly as a result of poor design and installation practices
and due to lack of timely maintenance.
• On top of this,
• Lack of coordinated and integrated infrastructure and
services planning and
• Implementation has exacerbated the problems
observed in the infrastructure development effort of the
country.
Integrated Urban Infrastructure and Services
Plan (IUISP)
• In the Ethiopian urban planning system:
• IUISP may be conceived at two major levels.
Integrated Urban Infrastructure and Services
Plan
• First, it may be conceived as part or an
outcome of a city-wide holistic urban
structure plan/master plan/development
plan.
 Integrated Urban Infrastructure and
Services Plan (IUISP)- Contd.
• At this level, IUISP is a long term plan
having a similar time and spatial horizon as
the structure plan.
• Here, IUISP can also be conceived as plan
which concerns only a part of an urban
center and is as such, limited to a locality,
e.g. an LDP area or an UURP area.
 Short, medium and long term IUISP Plan
• Second, IUISP could also be conceived as a short term/
medium term municipal plan that is extracted from the
long term IUISP plan.
• It is based on this level of planning that projects are
designed and implemented for developing cities/ towns
in an integrated manner.
• Thus, integrating infrastructures across time and across
localities is of paramount importance.
• In the absence of such a approach cities incur repeated
losses on laying the same infrastructures in different
cities of Ethiopia.
 Cooperation: an essential element in
integration of infrastructures
• Cooperation:
• Denotes the willingness to work together in order
to meet common objectives,
• It is achieved through the good will of stakeholders in
the development of infrastructure and services
without any guiding procedures, rules and regulations.
• Cooperation of planners, stakeholders, local
community and their future needs to be
accommodated for making provisions of
infrastructures and their integration.
 Co-ordination: A must for interconnection
and integration
• Coordination:
• Relates to harmonize a common plan of
action or to create a harmonious interaction
among the stakeholders that are involved in
infrastructure and services development in
towns and cities.
• It is achieved based on the adoption of certain
procedures and guidelines set by the nation.
Integration: Efficiency and scale of economy

• Integration: means brining together into one.

• It requires both cooperation and coordination.
• In order to work, It also calls for the existence of a
single formalized decision making system and the
procedures that facilitate the existence of such a system.
• Integration potentially allows for more effective and efficient
use of resources without compromising the needs of future.
• ln order to achieve a given set of objectives, integration may
take three forms, which are:
 Inter- sectoral, Intra- sectoral and spatial contexts of
integration.
 Intra-sectoral integration
• Integration within an infrastructure
sector/entity (intra-sectoral integration):
• For example integration within road sector
between Road Authority (arterial and sub
arterial road) and
• Local government and community initiatives
(local and collector road) .
• So that it does not compete rather complement
in the order or hierarchy of infrastructures.
 Inter-sectoral integration
• Integration between infrastructure entities (inter-
sectoral integration);
• Integration between different sectors/infrastructure
entities: such as road, drainage, sewerages, power
lines and telecommunication lines
• Integration for smooth functioning of each one
without compromising the efficiencies of other
sectors.
• Inter- sectoral integration of infrastructures makes it
economical, efficient and location/ site specific.
 Integration of infrastructure with other
urban development sectors/ land uses
• Integration of infrastructure with other urban
development sectors such as :
• Housing, business, industrial areas etc (which is also an
inter-sectoral integration).
• Integrated infrastructure planning is a tool for
implementing housing, business and industrial
development in the planning process of urban areas.
• Based on the specific needs of each land use such as
parking space in the business area, public transport for
residential localities and depots and connectivity to raw
material and markets for industrial zones.
Participation of stake holders, communities
and peoples
• Participation:
 is the process through which stakeholders' influence and share
decision making in the investment programs of Integrated
Infrastructure and Service Development planning.
 Communities such as business, industry and local residents
participate for their interests to be served not only for the time
being but for the long time to come.
 People of locality with different age groups, income groups,
gender and specially challenged groups are duly represented in
the participation.
 So that provision for such special facilities could provided for
the special needs peoples.
 Infrastructure: Basic need of planning
provision
Infrastructure:
• is defined to denote the hard component that comprises all systems
of urban physical structure that are mainly laid under the ground (e.g.
water mains) and on the ground (e.g. roads) or above the ground (e.g.
telephone and electric lines) to provide public services and
conveniences.
• Infrastructure includes roads and drainage, utility lines (water
supply, electricity, telephone,) and facilities such as public
transport terminals, garages…etc .
• Since infrastructures are the life lines of the localities, they are of
paramount importance in planning the locality, society and economy.
• All precautions related to the sensitivity of the people, places and
long term interests of the localities need to be taken care of.
 Services: as facilitators to infrastructures

• Services are facilities such as:

• Surface for transport systems and their
terminals,
• By passes, subways, fly overs
• Parking lots,
• Interchanges,
• Linkages
• Connections, etc.
• These are directly related to infrastructure.
 Level of infrastructure
• Level of infrastructure indicates
• The hierarchy of infrastructure which is
delivered or managed at a specific level:-
 Macro level : City level,
 Meso level: Sub city level and
 Micro/local level: Woreda/ Kebele level
 It could be further divided into localities such
as parks ,playgrounds and open spaces.
 Macro level infrastructures
• Macro level infrastructures are :
• Those that cross territorial boundaries of
federal, regional entities or cities such as
express ways, water ways, LRT and others.
• They are managed by macro institutions
like the Ethiopian Telecommunications
Corporation, the Ethiopian Electric Power
Corporation, the Ethiopian Roads Authority
and the Ethio-Djibouti Rail Way Company.
 Meso level infrastructures
• Meso-level generally includes group-
level characteristics :
• Which can be separated into “compositional” factors
(which people are found in an institution) such as
construction engineers, power/ electricity utility, waste
managers, sanitation workers and health workers.
• “contextual” ones (characteristics of an institution) such
as designs, linkages and connectivity.
• It could be a sub city level organization that is
responsible to attend to the infrastructural needs of the
sub regions.
 Micro/Local level infrastructures
• Micro/Local level infrastructures are those that
can be supplied and managed within
• the local area by local actors like municipalities,
local government sectors, communities,
• CBOs and NGOs.
• It could be denoted by Woreda/ Kebele level
systems authorities and attendant staff to deal
with the demand at the locality level.
 Essence of Integrated Infrastructure
• Integrated Infrastructure :
• It denotes a state of affairs whereby different
infrastructures work in an integrated manner without
causing conflict of interests.
• Interventions are planned and implemented in a balanced
manner relative to one another.
• In terms of the urban functions they are supposed to serve.
• Although they are integrated and at one place, yet they
maintain their identity for further improvement, repair and
replacement without harming/ compromising other
utilities/ infrastructures in place.
 MSIP
• Multi-Sectoral Investment Planning (MSIP)
• It is internationally developed
method/approach for setting investment
priorities:
• Across different sectors, different localities
and land uses to
• Improve the management of local capital
investment decision-making.
 Integrated Development Plan (IDP):
• Integrated Development Plan (IDP):
• It is a strategic planning instrument, which guides the
planning priorities of a locality.
• It leads and coordinates all planning works of a
municipality at the city level.
• The plan is framed to time specific and locality specific
physical and logical designs to be implemented.
• It ensures integration between and among the
infrastructures both at local as well as at the city level.
• It is thus a comprehensive plan urban development and a
guide for integration of infrastructures.
 Related UN reports
• UN-Habitat. (2013). Planning and Design for
Sustainable Urban Mobility. Global report on
human settlements 2013. New York: Routledge.
[Online]. Available:
https://unhabitat.org/planning-and-design-for-
sustainable-urban-mobility-global-report-on-
human-settlements-2013/, [15.01.2018.]
• UN-Habitat. (2016). UN-Habitat III - New Urban
Agenda, Quito. [Online]. Available: www.
habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda, [15.01.2018
 UN recommends
Integrated infrastructure planning
• Integrated urban infrastructure planning is the new
informal planning approach accepted globally.
• It is a target–oriented and implementation-oriented
strategic control instrument committed to serving public
interest, equal opportunities, and gender mainstreaming.
• Integrated urban infrastructure development planning is
based on the diversity of local conditions that proclaim the
planning process without uniform standards.
• The content and methods are determined by local
challenges and planning practices, supplemented by urban
development management.
 Implementation of IUIP in the context of
climate change
• Implementation of integrated infrastructure
planning is based on planning methodology,
recognized more through theory and less through
planning practice.
• Protection against floods in the context of climate
change implies making development decisions on
the basis of current and potential future risks of
extreme hydro-meteorological events particularly
in the urban areas of tropical world.
 Redefine the problems, goals, and
objectives of IUIP
• There is a necessary interaction among the basic
planning steps that needs to be achieved in the
process of integrated urban infrastructure planning
and management for the sustainable development
and resilient urban space and environment.
• The whole planning process presents cycles in which
the steps and activities influence each other.
• Lack of integration may result in aggravating
problems to the community and overall financial
burden on the municipalities.
Problems and needs of the population at the
top of the integration in IUIP
• It is also necessary to ensure the participation
of all stakeholders in the development and
implementation of the plan.
• Strengthening participation through the
involvement of citizens in the planning and
decision-making process is an important
prerequisite to a comprehensive review of the
problems and needs of the population,
especially at the local level.
 Three approaches to integration
1- Urban public finance
• First, urban public finance needs to be put on
a sound footing by the introduction of land
and property taxation.
• This is equitable, efficient, and
administratively feasible.
• But as with all tax-raising measures, it takes
political authority to introduce and
implement.
 2- To raise urban density
• A second approach is to raise density, since
density has the potential to radically reduce per
capita infrastructure costs.
• Two sets of policies that could raise density.
• By prioritizing transport infrastructure for
urban connectivity, population-weighted
national density could be dramatically
increased.
• It could also be increased through raising
residential density within cities by a series of
measures to improve the operation of housing
and urban land markets.
 3- Private investments in resource
extraction
• The other is to piggyback (a ride on someone's
back and shoulders) national infrastructure on
to the private investments in resource
extraction that have been triggered across
Africa by the commodity boom.
• Although that boom is over, the horizon for
investment in mineral extraction is typically
several decades, and so less sensitive than
sovereign lending to current prices.
 Key challenges to Ethiopian Urban Integrated
Infrastructures
• There are four key challenges and constraints
identified.
• (a) infrastructure challenges hinder firm success
and public private dialogue is not sufficiently
informing capital investment plans (CIPs)
• (b) low survival and graduation rates among
supported MSEs
• (c) low levels of capacity among city administration
staff and offices; and
• (d) lack of access to land and electricity are also
major binding constraints, delaying new
investments but are more within the remit of the
 The UIIDP is designed to alleviate these
challenges.
• Firstly, the investment menu includes
infrastructure important to firm establishment
and growth, as well as poverty reduction
(including serviced land for MSEs, industrial
zones and tourism sites, built facilities such as
markets for small businesses, MSE one-stop
shops, sales and display centers for MSEs,
community centers, youth centers, and
cultural centers).
 Mitigation of challenges
• Secondly, new performance measures have been
introduced to incentivize public private dialogue and
participation in planning, better targeting of MSEs to
identify genuine entrepreneurs, further provision of
support to new as well as graduating MSEs, and better
measurement of long term job creation.
• Thirdly, the IPF window includes technical assistance
and skills development in LED, including spatial
planning of cities with new industrial parks, tourism
expert support, public private dialogue, investment
promotion, and so on
Challenges of Urban Planning Practices
• Physical Difficulties
• Social Difficulties
• Political Difficulties
• Economic Difficulties
• Capacity Difficulties
 Urban plan, practices and infrastructures

• Urban plan is a more structurally generalized

framework to guide development in a particular area
by defining land use patterns, areas of open space,
layout and nature of infrastructure in consideration of
its future benefits and adverse effects.
• Urban Planning practices can be considered as a
cyclical process that begins with the identification of
problems and goes through interconnected processes
until problems are solved or significantly reduced
Policy intervention to address the problems

• As a part of policy intervention in addressing the challenges

of urban development in Ethiopia, activities such as
investment promotion, improvement of governmental
services in land and infrastructure, job creation, and housing
provisions have been carried out.
• As a result, large and medium urban centers have exhibited a
remarkable growth in construction, manufacturing, and
tourism sectors.
• Moreover, job creation for the urban workforce has
proliferated.
• The housing development program has helped, besides
creating job opportunities, the low and middle income urban
dwellers to own property and have equitable wealth
 ROADS IN ETHIOPIA

• In a country five times as large as the UK, but without

an extensive rail network, road transportation in
Ethiopia is paramount. Over the last seven years
there has been a massive increase in funds allocated
for road construction. State spending on roads
accounts for a quarter of each year’s infrastructure
budget and the government has earmarked the
equivalent of $4 billion to build, upgrade and repair
roads over the next ten years under the Road Sector
Development Program (RSDP).
 AIRPORTS

• Ethiopia’s new and upgraded airports facilitate the transport of

goods and encourage investment. There are now two international
airports – Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa – and both have seen an
encouraging increase in passenger and freight transport over the
last few years. New passenger and cargo terminals have been built
at Dire Dawa airport and are now fully operational.
• Smaller airports such as Bahir Dar have been upgraded. In order to
encourage tourism five major airports – Arba Minch, Lalibela,
Mekele, Axum and Gondar have been singled out for upgrading;
improvements at the first three airports are already complete and
work on the last two will be completed by early 1999.
• The opening of the new airport at Arba Minch has opened up wide-
ranging economic opportunities for the lush south.
• Upgrading works have also been completed at Semera, Robe
(Goba) and Jijiga airfields. Upgrading of Asosa, Combolcha (Dessie),
Shire, Negelle, Kebri Dar, Shilabo, Humera, Gambella and Shire
airfields will be completed by 1999.
Questions & comments

• Thank you