A letter to Minister of State Arkebe Uqbay:

Dear Mr. Minister:

Many people in the country remember with great appreciation the work you did in transforming the City of Addis Ababa from a conglomeration of squatters into the beginnings of a modern clean city. The work you started has become self-sustaining and the city is advancing to perhaps become one of the most modern cities in Africa. Congratulations!

One understands that you and your minister in the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing are poised to duplicate the Addis Ababa miracle into the regional states through construction of urban housing. Reading from press reports, the funding sources have been identified and technical preparations are at an advanced stage. Construction has even started in some places. I just wanted to mention the issue of architecture in the great work you are poised to do. It is not enough to just build these condominiums, as prominent multi story building in the urban centers. All things being equal, one hopes they do not become four sided ugly buildings, which have no relation to local environment and architecture. On the contrary one hopes they will be good looking and functional residential buildings that private builders can emulate. It should not just be building cities but building good-looking cities. I hope it is not late to bring this issue to you attention.

I also wanted to tell an anecdote of how people look at your work and try to emulate it. On a recent trip to the historic city of Axum I saw a small shop being built with one of the walls tucked to the local elementary school. Do you remember how you built those kiosks in Addis for low-income people, some tucked to big wall fences? I thought some city official in Axum was trying to duplicate that. I personally think, it was wrong to do it on a school wall. Worse still, someone may get the idea of doing the same on walls of historic churches and buildings. I am hoping that you will be able to issue guidelines on where such projects could be undertaken in urban centers, particularly in historical cities such as Axum, Gonder, and Lalibela.

Ibrahim Abdella

Feb 27,2007