Friday, September 29, 2023
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Ethiopia : A $1 billion new palace a priority for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed 

Chaka Project, Palace, is said to be part of the ten-year development plan

Ethiopian PM greets guests ,who came to attend fund raising drive , up on arrival at Emperor Menelik Palace ( Photo / OPM)

borkena 

Ethiopia is not in the best of shape in its finances, although the Ministry of Planning and Development is expecting a 6.6 percent economic growth. 

The war has ravaged the economy and communities in many places. Devastating drought has affected considerably large parts of Ethiopia. 

Recently, after an apparent rapprochement between Abiy Ahmed’s government on the one hand and the U.S. and European Union, if it is not a staged one, the World Bank injected $300 million in “aid” for reconstruction of war torn areas. 

The gap is still big. Yet, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has his own priority. A prestigious project of a $1 billion dollar new palace. That makes it the next mega project in the country next to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to a report by the Reporter 

The place selected for the project is Yeka-Sub City. It will be constructed on 503 hectares of land. 

The project entails gentrification too. Thousands of residents in the region will be required to vacate the area. The Reporter’s Report indicated that  “the residents will be given a chance to develop their own property on their land, if it fits the standard of the area, where the palace will be built.” 

How many of the residents, given the level of poverty in the city, will be able to redevelop their homes is a question that is not addressed in the report. It is not indicated if the government will make financial arrangements for it. 

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed seems to like artificial lakes from other projects he has been passionately showcasing for visitors and his colleagues, and members of the defence force too. The new luxurious palace will have three, not one, artificial lakes. 

It is named “Chaka project.”  According to the source, the government of the United Arab Emirates,  a country that has been having growing influence in Ethiopia sine Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018,  will chip in the chunk of the funds needed for the construction. 

The fate of the historic Emperor Menelik Palace? 

It will be turned into a national museum. The Prime Minister is currently working from Menelik Palace. 

Grand Jubilee Palace, which is in a walking distance from Menelik palace, is currently undergoing renovation at a cost of one billion Ethiopian birr, according to the source. 

It is to be recalled this year, Addis Ababa City Administration announced that it has spent 2.2 billion birr just to renovate the structure that was constructed under Haileselassie’s Imperial government. 

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Wasting One Billion stolen money on the wanna be an OUTOCRATIC Orommuma irresponsible regime at the expense Addis Ababa founders, Amharas who are forcefully thrown out of their land and homes..
    This massive land stolen from many decades resident of Addis Ababa is the other sinister of Abiy and the Orommuma thuggish regime to move Amhara and other Ethiopians out of Addis Ababa and to replace it with Orommuma thugs.

    The other sinisterism of Abiy is also making and producing more poor Amharas by throwing out of their homes and neighborhoods instead of spending every cent on poorest nation in Africa.

    This is the second time he wasted money on building and renovating palaces for himself. This is also a sign for his ambition NOT to leave the power seat.

    Abiy is no good for anyone but for himself. He is a Spider Widow filled with sinister that is very bad for any country.

  2. Who gives a damn? And shall these chambers of horror, excuse my French, I mean “palace” be called? Les Catacombes de Borena What is there to display, skeletons after skeletons of innocent and helpless victims mowed down the new butchers of Ethiopia i.e. Abiy The Terrible and PP The Grim Rippers. Yucks, who will set foot in such a cursed place??????? The vile pastor and wanna be premier has one and one legacy: death and destruction.

  3. God please give them wisdom for the above complainers since they failed to understand a 1 Billion Birr project which will benefit the society in so many ways. Lets say Job opportunity being number one benefit for so many fathers and mothers who will benefit from wages to support their families in such turmoiled, inflated and unstable world. You can also see future, permanent job opportunities at this facility and etc… When are you guys see things from different angels? Why you failed to at list guess government is doing such things to tackle other problems as well? My Ethiopian bloggers not qualified for anything, eske madamet jemeru yematawkewen kemetekebater….

  4. The poorest country in Africa is Ethiopia. One of the worse place to live is Ethiopia. War, disease, starvation, drought and Poverty stricken country is also Ethiopia. Only during Abiy the horrible, Ethiopia went from bad to worse. Ethiopia lost so many hospitals, schools, infrastructures, farm lands not to mention millions of innocent lives all at Abiy the horrible watchful eyes.
    Helping the economy and creating employment starts by eliminating poverty, providing housing and schools, healthcare and most of all assuring justice and peace for stable Ethiopia. Which Abiy the terrible is not doing purposely because he is trapped in sinisterism and backward ignorant and arrogant ethnic and tyrannical agenda.

    The first and foremost people he should be spending money and effort on is those Abiy produced, the millions of displaced homeless people in Addis Ababa, Wellega, and Amhara Zone. Yet he has the audacity to build another palace all to himself as if there is no problem and when millions including millions of infants and children have no a place or shelter to sleep under.
    Ethiopians comes first. Abiy’s job description is serving Ethiopia and Ethiopians. Not himself. He got so rich and arrogant all in 4 years after he moved up to the power seat. That should not be the case to become a PM.

  5. Teddy Red Line,
    How about hospitals ,schools ,etc.? they all create jobs during and after construction works.
    Do we really need a palace that displaces thousands of long term Addis ababa residents??

    Our PM is suffers from some sort of mental issues.

    • axum ezana

      You might think like that and that is fine, but you must know that such investment brings much more benefit than what you mentioned above, plus it shows that our beloved Ethiopia is back after 27 years of abuse and destruction. Ethiopia needs to shine and those people who left the area for such historical project will be just fine. I have 100% confidence the government will not displaced all qualified residents, they will be taken care of

      • How about the people who are dying of hunger and displaced people by this government – who will benefit from this GOD forsaken palace of HELL.

  6. The country is sliding down in a wrong direction and getting worse by day than the 27 years of TPLF rule, It seems the government has lost its main priority and responsibility. Instead of serving its people it is exploiting its power to use land as its own property by displacing long term residents without fair and equal compensation.

    Government is using power beyond its limit and inappropriately and encouraging lawlessness in Wellega, by hiding and undermining concerns, Abusing innocent people without court order and due process, no respect for constitution and for the rule of law, and protection of citizens rights and privileges.

    When building Hospital, Schools, Universities, roads and utilities are much needed services in Ethiopia because so many people suffer from the lack of those services Abiy Ahmed is caught up in using his power to take extremely huge area of land by removing and displacing thousands of poor and powerless families.

    In addition to investing in such useful infrastructure that provide great services it also creates so many important and permanent jobs. That is what we call will shine a country especially when millions of people suffering from homelessness and unemployment. Wasting money on unimportant extravaganza just to feel important sounds so wrong and out of touch with what is happening on the ground.

  7. It is 1 billion dollars, or about 51 billion birr (with today’s exchange rate). Compare it to this, it would cost much less than a 100 million dollars to rebuild the White House in the US.

    I would have used the 1 billion dollars to build housing for the homeless, help the street children, women, and also support our brothers and sisters that are returning empty handed from Arab countries after so much cruel abuse in the hands of their employers.

  8. Building a new palace is not a bad idea, but Abiy Ahmed’s intention is not that. He is building the new palace because he hates the former king and the palace he built and called in his name Menelik palace. The prime minister is sourounde by group of heaters.That ‘s all about the new palace is. A nation building ‘s a process. Ethiopian progressives leaders had done their part as the rest of nation leaders on earth. Even though there is no solid evidence what Menelik had done. But we have seen thousands Amharas slaughtered in Wollega because of their ethnic we conifer that happened if not by Abiy Ahmed but by his closest tribal elects like Shemlis Abdissa and others but Abiy Ahmed is the primary responsible for that.

  9. Aby’a genocidal behaviour is rewarded and his vanity knows no bounds…. That money could be spent on reparations for those families who have suffered at his hands.

  10. Aby’s genocidal behaviour is rewarded and his vanity knows no bounds…. That money could be spent on reparations for those families who have suffered at his hands.

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