Addis Ababa's New Light Rail Is a White Elephant Project [Pictures]
Ethiopian driver smashing into the new light rail in Addis Ababa.
When Ethiopia secured funds from the Export-Import Bank of China to build a $475m (£295m) electrified railway that stretches 34km [21 miles] along the main arteries of Addis Ababa, most Ethiopians knew it was a white elephant project intended to buy political time.
Instead of focusing on more important needs, such as improving food security, or educating the 61% of Ethiopians who still do not know how to read or write, the Ethiopian regime is obsessed with a North Korean-style strategy of building grande projects for political consumption.
And when you have a impoverished country such as Ethiopia, where the majority are not educated, this doesn't bode well for the maintenance of the projects. Already, citizens in Addis Ababa are turning the rail line into an open-air market, parking lots for drunken drivers, and public toilets for the city's homeless.
The cruel irony is the Ethiopian people will have to pay back the Chinese for the TPLF's loan with crippling interests. Even worse, they will continue paying the Chinese to maintain these projects because the regime was too busy trying to impress donor nations and party loyalists than focusing on meaningful investments for the betterment of their people.
Addis Ababa's New Light Rail Is a White Elephant Project [Pictures]
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Reviewed by Admin
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Why don't the Ethiopians concentrate on simple yet necessity projects rather vain projects they are ill equiped to run? Talk of attempting to run before one is able to crawl.
ReplyDeleteI see Jealousy in this Article !!
ReplyDeleteWhy are so consern?
ReplyDeleteI don't i urdrstand this aarticle dose not reflects eritreans. Why is this here anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think eritreans should focus on there own problems.
I understand in the other hand thd the writer need to make a living.
Truth hearts.
ReplyDeleteThis transportation is not only for Addis Ababa people but also all african people b/c Addis Ababa is the Capital city of All Africans even for Eritreans.
ReplyDeletelet me add this addis metro train pic
I am happy for Ethiopians doing some progress, instead of like ours claming food security achived when most of our people are still startving. When was Asmara had a big building project the last time?. The last 15 years since the dictator became out of control (G-15 who used to power balance him arrested), he forbid all kind of buildning construction hence no real developenment project has been seen in Asmara. He is intentionally killing the country because of his identity complex. He thinks we hate him becuase of his Tigrayan background.
ReplyDeletewhat do you know about it?
ReplyDeleteENVY
ReplyDeleteJealousy is not but information. Nice pictures and happy people but does the story end there?
ReplyDeleteA responsible govt. design projects priority wise, if this project of light rail is one of the Weyanes essential priorities thence it's OK, congratulations.
If on the contrary, it's just for propaganda's sake, thence you got nothing to brag about.
We know what taxi transport looks like in Addis, so please do not dictate us about anything that we taste it at first hand
ReplyDeleteEritrea is not only Asmara. you seem not see the whole picture about development in
ReplyDeleteEritrea. We do it in our own pace, means and ways which is sustainable.
If you have problem with PIA, then that is another matter.
መቀሌ የደም ከተማ / Mekelle Blood City
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A15NCWCBjsc
Not concerned, just baffled.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe this breath taking picture is from Addis-Ethiopia.to judge it by the picture it seems it is somewhere in Europe and not anywhere in Europe but Germany,Austria or Swisserland.and as the writer indicated that it is being used as a public-toilet and so on and so forth, this phenomena is not unique only to Ethiopia it is third world problem and governments must provide public toilets and those do not follow the rules punish them severly.those Eritreans giving Ethiopia bad mouthing should listen to eri-tv(Aghidna programm), what the Asmara police has to say about ...congratulations Ethiopia and thank you for welcoming Eritreans who could not find a home at their own birth place.
ReplyDeleteKINAT,KINAT,KINAT....YOU FEED UR PEOPLE,WEYANE WILL MOVE FORWARD WITH TECHNOLOGY. BY THE WAY IS IT TRUE THAT ERITREANS ARE HAVING THREE MEALS A DAY? FROM WHAT I HEARD IT IS THREE MEALS OF FOUL (PEANUTS) A DAY.TRUE? WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CONCENTRATE ON BUILDING YOUR ITALIAN GIFT..ASMARA?
ReplyDeletehabesha ,
ReplyDeleteu must be kidding,
do u think african diplomates in addis use public transport to do their job??
Maybe this clip of Addis Ababa residents scavenging from landfills for survival would put it in prospective for you.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxaUBqJNaVI#t=32
A million dollar question for your type, What is recycling?
ReplyDeleteI genuinely wish your city to develop as Mekelle does, my comrade in hatred
ReplyDeleteHizima kualo na sunflower eju teraray...ab mekele kef elka lezi'en mikurtam eju. Hasas Hamashenay!!!
ReplyDeleteቀሃምማት ብዓል JART ማርት፣ shabokilla ዓንጃሎ፣ DH ድሃ ምሃ & Co.
ReplyDeleteከም ዓበይቲ ዘልዎ "ጽንብላሊዕሲ ምዓኮራ ዘይከወለት .... " ኰይኑ ነግርኩም፤ ከም ንቖልዑ ብካራሜሎ፣ ብባንብላ ትጠባብሮ፣ ሃገርኩም ንመጻኢ "ምእተ- ዓመታት" ከፊላ ኣብ ዘይትወጾ፣ ዕዳን ምንዲዳን እናተኣልከት፣ ብላዕል ላዕሉ ብዘንጸባርቕ መትዓሻሸዊ ክትቅሸሹ ንበሩ ደኣ። እሞ ነዝታት ድማ ኢና ክን " KINAT,KINAT,KINAT --- ENVY --- Jealousy " ክንጀላለየሰሉ? - - - ጨድሩ ደኣ - - - ዕንባባ ይጽናሕኩም!
ወረ እቲ ሓደስ፣ ነቲ ኣብ ርእስ ከተምኦም "አዲስ አበባ" ኣእላፍ ብጓሓፍ ክዕንገሉ ንዘርኢ ቪድዮ፣ "What is recycling?" እዩ ዘለ። ዋላ ሰብ እንተ ዘይሓፈሩስ፣ ካን ቑሩብ ፈሪሃ እዝጊ?
እታ ሃገሮም ግዳስ እንኳዕ እታ ንፈልጣ ዀነት:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmp2012/fast_facts/en/
Countries that account for almost three-quarters of the people who practice open defecation:
1. India (626 million)
2. Indonesia (63 million)
3. Pakistan (40 million)
4. Ethiopia (38 million)
5. Nigeria (34 million)
ብምልቝማጽን ብጃህራ ሓሶትን ዝሰሰነት ሃገር ነይራእና!
Even though I don't understand Tigrigna good enough, for the case of recycling, I myself worked right there, at Koshe, to collect used plastic bottles to clean and supply back for a plastic factory in Gerji. I stopped this job after many fellow citizens started it and do not competitive for me.
ReplyDeleteMy friend the truth is neither black nor white, it is gray. Ethiopia is not Paradise as Woyane say and hell fire as Shabos say. Gabito?
I am no expert at waste recycling. However I very much know it doesn't involve the consumption of waste by humans. You really are priceless.
ReplyDeleteMADOTE, please do not post articles that do not have any relevance to Eritrea.
ReplyDeleteMADOTE, please do not post articles that do not have any relevance to Eritrea. -
ReplyDeleteThat is good excuse, Asmara is dying because of we are building the rest of the country. What a joke, tell that to someone who doesn't know Eritrea but to me my brother. I know Eritrea from corner to corner, there is no significant project anywhere in Eritrea. BTW could you please explain to me why private construction has been banned for the last 12 years?. For your information even high ranked officials of HGDEF tells in private conversation that no one knows why it has been banned except the mad dog himself. Who in his right mind bans private construction which could lift the country economically?.
ReplyDeleteHunger in 2015 - where to watch
ReplyDeletehttp://newirin.irinnews.org/extras/2015/2/13/hunger-2015-map-interactive
korekor agame beggar,
ReplyDeletewhat about this ???
RMMS calls this phenomenon the “Ethiopian Exodus”. Between September and
November 2014 alone RMMS says over 26,000 Ethiopians have crossed the
Red Sea to Yemen alone, on their way to Saudi Arabia. Many drowning in
the attempt. http://www.madote.com/2015/01/ethiopia-ethiopian-exodus-floods-yemen.html
agame beggar,
ReplyDeleteare u trying to compare asmara and mekele blood city?? kikiiiiii
THE WORLD HAS NO INFO REGARDING YOUR ERITREA MEM.
ReplyDeleteJealous much, bitches?! Why is an Eritrean website posting events that happen in Ethiopia? If the metro system just built in Addis a "white elephant" then it's Ethiopia's white elephant and not yours. Why don't you discuss what matters the most to you? Like the tragic state of Eritrea and Eritreans... also known as (aka), refugees, aka - human organ farms, aka- shark feed, aka - terrorists, aka - 2% tributaries. You have so much ammo on yourselves, I don't know where you find the time and where with all to be thinking about Ethiopia every sleeping and waking minutes of your miserable lives.
ReplyDeleteWell Said, Fedayeen! Let's hear about the developments and progress being made in Eritrea and not about foreigners and foreign countries. If there's going to be postings on neighboring countries, let there be a balance with postings on Yemen, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, etc. included. There's nothing but "Ethiopia this" and "Ethiopia that" day in and day out. Get a life camels!!
ReplyDeleteThis article is of interest to us for the reason, it give us insight into the mind set of Government we are dealing with. This proves Ethiopian Government is made of vanity clad idiots who don't even care for the wellbeing of their own citizens.
ReplyDeleteWhen Ethiopia started to expand Bole International Airport to increase traffic volume ten years ago. Ethiopia airport authorities were told the terminal was going to be white elephant. Today the air port has 7 million passage a year and its becoming very crowded and the Airport authorities are expanding it again to increase its capacity to 20 million. The first expansion was suppose to be big enough for 20 years but it started serving to capacity in less than ten years. Ethiopia is planning to build an airport with100 million terminal capacity. Ethiopia did its home work why that is but Eritreans see a white elephant because they can't see bigger, bolder, stronger Ethiopia; we do. Ethiopia's rail way system is life changing project. Any project that is going to be used for mass transportation in Africa is a very good investment. I think I challenge Eritreans to challenge us by building something better, faster and stronger don't challenge us by undermining what is accomplish. If you criticize what is accomplished without doing something better either your an idiot , who fails to understand, or ignorant, who lacks information
ReplyDeleteThey can be inspired not despaired like some Eritrean who tend to be disappointed when something good happens in Ethiopia
ReplyDeleteTHE CURRENT TRANSPORT SITUATION WARRANTED THE BUILDING OF THIS LIGHT RAIL SYSTEM.ADDIS ABEBAS POPULATION HAS QUADRUPLED AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT COULD NOT COPE UP AND THUS THIS LIGHT TRAIN.ACCIDENTS HAPPEN AND THE PICTURES SHOWN ARE NOT PECULIAR TO ADDIS LIGHT RAIL,IT HAPPENS EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME.THE SALE OF MERCHANDISE ADJACENT TO RAILWAYS IS ALSO NOT NEW.AS TO THE PRIORITES THE GOVERNMENT IN ADDIS ABEBA KNOW BETTER THAN SOME DIASPORA ERITREANS,WHO ARE DETERMINED TO BELITTLE EVERYTHING ETHIOPIAN. DOES IT REALLY MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? NONE AT ALL.JUST ENVY
ReplyDeleteSORRY, BUT I THINK YOU ARE THE IDIOT.
ReplyDeleteBefore posting a comment do learn the basic etiquette. Capital letter is big no no.
ReplyDeleteWHO TAUGHT THAT ETIQUETTE?
ReplyDeleteI know
ReplyDeletethere has been nothing done in Asmara and I did ask a minster about it and his
response was that ``it is a matter of priority and budget.´´ I am not lucky enough
yet to know Eritrea corner to corner but from what I read regardless in what
scale much needed roads, schools, dams and clinics has been built in many villages
and remote areas. I have seen villages with electricity and clean running
water. So, considering the economic condition and sanctions the country is facing,
there are enough project has been implemented. Regarding private construction ban
to be correct it is since 2007 and action was taken because of unacceptable practice
of most of the professional engineers with licenses. I do not know why the ban
is not lifted yet and I agree if you say it is taking too long.
",WHO ARE DETERMINED TO BELITTLE EVERYTHING ETHIOPIAN."
ReplyDeleteno body is belittling EVERYTHING ETHIOPIIIIAN ------- as I am concerned!
but amused ! of this
is it not funny?
Asha'sya hade derfu...
ReplyDelete