Mereja.Forum

[EthioRedSea]

The city of Mekelle was the capital city of Imperial Ethiopia under John IV of Abysinia (Ethiopia). Mekelle is much older than Addis Ababa and is much closer to Middle East and Europe.

The federal government has been discriminating against Mekelle compared to Addis Ababa. If we take the expansion of social accommodation ( cheap apartments) and road network, Mekelle does not get the budget necessary to carry out such projects. Addis Ababa has built maybe 100000 cheap apartments. Mekelle has built nothing , nixs, zero. We hear in the news that Mekelle has embarked on ambitious building of homes that number 100 (one hundred). This is simply a joke. Mekele should build at least 4000-5000 apartment a year to meet the accommodation of the population. The private sector cannot build for all people as it a matter of costs. The local government can. Social accommodations are cheap to build with mortgages to be paid in 40-50 years or life long. The local government should spend about 1.5 billion birr to build 5000 flats every year, which in 10 years will be 15 billion birr ( US $500 million) for 50000 homes (assuming A 3-room flat will cost about 300000 birr in Mekelle ) In 10 years, half of the money spent on homes willl have been repaid by the people. After 20 years, the government has recovered all the money spent on building homes.

There is a need for dedication and transparency. The government in Mekelle is corrupt ( actually they are a joke). Thus unless there is a group of leaders interested to serve the people honestly such mega projects will fail. Thus the political will and the dedication to transfer Tigray is key.

[EthioRedSea]

That Addis Ababa is the capital city does not mean it should have all the budget.
Mekelle is more important to Tigray and should have similar budget as Addis Ababa. Mekelle should get some percentage of the budget given to Addis Abeba. So Should other regional cities. I assume 40% of the budget could go to Addis Ababa and 60% could be divided among all regional capital cities.
Yohannes ruled 17 years, not 4 yearsas the abstract below shows:
Yohannes IV (Tigrinya ትግርኛ: ዮሐንስ ፬ኛ, Rabaiy Yōḥānnis; horse name "Abba Bezba"; 11 July 1837 – 10 March 1889),[1] born Lij Kaśa Mercha and contemporaneously also known in English as Johannes or John IV, was ruler of Tigray from 1867 to 1871, and Emperor of Ethiopia, King of Zion, and King of Kings from 1872 to 1889. He is remembered as one of the leading architects of the modern state of Ethiopia.[2]