Political Commitment, Institutional Capacity and Urban Transport Governance Reform in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Following rapid urbanization, Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa has become circumscribed by a complex set of multi-pronged transport challenges that are a greatly contributing to its overall urban inefficiency. A lack of political commitment and weak institutional capacity among transportation sector leadership exacerbates this urban predicament. In these contexts, this paper examines the efficiency of the 2012 transport sector reform package initiated by Addis Ababa City Administration under mayor Diriba Kuma. Through this research, the roles played by (a lack of) political commitment and institutional capacity in the design, management and implementation the urban reform agenda are closely examined. To do so, the paper utilizes a Public Sector Governance (PSG) reform framework to analyze the interplay between political commitment to reform and institutional capacity to implement agreed reforms. In particular, the paper highlights the outcome of reforms in circumstances in which there is substantial political commitment but low institutional capacity. In this regard, to achieve better public policy outcomes the study identifes the need for dismantling unnecessary bureaucratic procedures as well as addressing inefficiencies in governing structures, coupled with revisiting and improving existing norms, rules and regulations in transport governance. 1. BACKGROUND Good governance is critical in enhancing the development and management of the urban transport sector as a means to spurring economic growth and providing access to city residents. To meet this end, the Addis Ababa City Administration has passed different reform programs in its search for sustainable solutions to the rapidly urbanising metropolis but it has done so under conditions of limited resources amidst wider poverty. In such circumstances, transportation systems were elevated on the developmental policy agenda by the Mayor of the City in 2012. The move had wider support as other political parties accepted that failing to address such urban challenges could incite popular resentment similar to that which occurred following elections in the 1990s. Addis Ababa is the 125-year-old capital city of the second most populous nation in Africa, Ethiopia. Housing an official population of 4.5 million with an annual growth rate of 4%, the city is estimated to contribute about 34% of the total GDP of the country. Like other developing cities in Africa, Addis Ababa has a very low per capita travel distance, ranging between 2-300 kilometres (Temesgen, 2007, p. 8). With this low mobility, forced walking accounts for about 65 %. The remaining 35% of mobility is covered by informal transport, light railway, public bus services and private cars. The transport challenges of Addis Ababa are multi-faceted and complex and are compounded by the longevity of their evolution, which makes tracing their origins and root causes more difficult. The most pressing problems are usually associated with poor transport infrastructure and traffic systems, and shortcomings in institutional capacity, including in planning and financial resources. In addition, the city remains susceptible to regular fatal road accidents, with a rate of 60 people per 10,000 vehicles (World Bank RPF, 2016). The city's transport governance is characterized by a plethora of deficits, expressed in the form of poor land use and inappropriate implementation of economic development policies. The disintegration of villages and declining density associated with sprawl toward the peri-urban areas has also increased the travel distances and raised the price of public transport for commuters. As a result of such largely unplanned urban expansion, the City Administration has been compelled to allocate 25% of its annual budget (2004-2010) 2 to build new road and transport facilities, resulting in inadequate maintenance and upgrading of existing infrastructure. This paper assesses the Urban Transport Reform of Addis Ababa initiated by Mayor Deriba and identifies the extent to which both political commitment and institutional capacity have been determining factors in poor transportation system outcomes. Section 2 presents the political leadership challenge in historical perspective, before Section 3 outlines the reform process, including by reviewing relevant literature and outlining a framework for analyzing the interplay between political commitment and institutional capacity. Section 4 then examines transport system reform in Addis Ababa and assesses its impacts, before Section 5 provides a conclusion.