The major objective of establishing Shaggar is to create a strong and dynamic city. In my region, both population and urban space are rapidly growing, but we have not had good urban thinking to accompany this growth.

We have more than 725 towns in Oromia. In 2022, the Oromia regional government merged six of those that surround Addis Ababa. So where there once were these small, highly fragmented towns which were not capable of managing their resources properly—they were not working on making themselves more liveable or resource-efficient—Shaggar was created as a knowledge-based city.

Our major objective is to create an economically and culturally vibrant city, and to transform the lives of our people. We are making progress.

From the beginning, we determined that our first priority had to be ensuring the rule of law. The small towns that
have been absorbed to constitute Shaggar were never able to build the capacity to enforce the rule of law. This was essential to establish an environment attractive for the level of investment we intend to marshal.

Previously, the local government would allocate land for development to an investor, for example. The investors, in many cases, would arbitrarily incorporate adjoining land parcels beyond that allocated to them, clearly breaking the law. There were no consequences for this. We found more than 1,000 instances of this in 2022 when the amalgamation was officially instituted. So, we were relentless, and enforced the law. We made sure that fines were paid, and reviewed the operationality of all those investments, and realised that many of these so-called investors had gotten into deals in which they took ownership of sizeable land portions purely for speculative purposes, without ever intending to develop it, but simply to sell it on at a profit.

We took action, and as a result, most of the investors are now working on developing the pockets they own for the purposes they originally committed to. This is good for the city. New jobs and other economic opportunities for our citizens are being created as a result.

There was also plenty of illegal construction all over the city. In some cases, you would not be able to know who was in charge of, or responsible for, quite substantial structures, and there was no adherence to any building standard. Previously, everybody was trying to grab land for themselves without following the law. Local leaders, religious leaders, private citizens—they were all doing it. Some would invoke religion to justify their actions. We had to make it very clear that all land across Shaggar should be used for development that collectively benefitted the entire population: that it had to be used efficiently and optimally.

A second priority has been around how we use the resources available to us, and also to mobilise new ones. Land, of which there is plenty, is proving to be an important source of revenue and economic development.

At the beginning, there was no easily available information on what resources were available. The records just hadn’t existed in proper form. So we had to figure this out almost from scratch. Starting with an audit of the illegal seizures of land, and holding any form of illegality to account, gave us a chance to create a system that has properly allowed us to know what assets and resources we have as a city. We have had to build a whole new system of land and resource management that is more efficient. Almost all land across the territory is now accounted for, properly registered; we have been carefully planning and designating appropriate land use, and have specified a development corridor that will be of great importance to the city’s development.

Before Shaggar was established, the revenue mobilised by the six towns was not more than 6 billion Ethiopian Birr (about US$44 million). Within one year, this improved to 16.5 billion Birr (about US$115 million). We expect this to hit 23 billion Birr (US $165 billion) by the end of the current financial year. So that has been a great success that we will continue to build on.

Collecting more revenue has to go with improving the quality of service delivery for residents across the city. We have been working hard at this. Burayu, one of the old towns, had uncontrolled expansion, a lot of it driven by illegal construction. Even as it expanded, the services offered by the administration never expanded to keep up with the demand. Suddenly, we had to figure out how to address this. We have split Shaggar into 12 sub-cities, with three of those making up what was formerly Burayu. While I am the mayor of Shaggar, each sub-city has its own mayor who, while enjoying a lot of autonomy, is accountable to the larger, metropolitan body of which I am the head.

This setup has made me more accessible to the people of Shaggar. Decentralisation has made it possible for us to respond to what each of the 12 sub-cities (and 36 wards) need to strategically focus on.

Amalgamating six fragmented towns with a total population of just over three million, spread over 1,160 km2 (by comparison, New York City is 1,200 km2) is pretty complicated. We have had to think about how technology can be best utilised to help us deal with some of the challenges created by the state of fragmentation. So, we have worked with one of the big telecoms companies in Ethiopia to create a virtual private network that keeps us seamlessly connected to the sub-city administrations, for example. This initial investment opened up the possibility of us implementing a city-wide digital parking system that is in use now. This has created job opportunities for the youth and brought in more revenue that we can invest to improve the city.

In 2022, the city didn’t have a single hospital. This was a shock to me. I was suddenly mayor of a city of three million people without a hospital. We had to find a way to address this from the outset.

I heard there was a four-storey building built as a health centre. I used the power of the mayor’s office to mobilise a range of people to make sure the building could become a primary health centre. The following year, we allocated more budget to establish a wider network of health centres across the city. It hasn’t been smooth sailing, but we have two general hospitals completed now, and are working towards having a total of four within the next two years. This year alone we are building 33 health centres to enable easier access to healthcare for people in their own communities. We are looking at developing a further 29 “health posts” as we call them to have a more comprehensive system in place.

We are working hard to improve not just infrastructure, but quality of life for people across the city.

Shaggar is the only city that enjoys the level of autonomy we have. The national government gave us the dispensation to operate with a status equivalent to that enjoyed by regions, even though we are a city. It’s part of a series of reforms the national government is beginning to implement, which is all about giving more attention to urban areas. In the past, rural areas were the key priority. This has changed.

The Shaggar structure is also unique. I have three deputies, each with a clear focus area. The first focuses on the economy—job creation, investment, and trade. My second deputy focuses on agricultural development. We confidently talk about and want to make sure the city has a strong agricultural production base. It’s essential for our food security. The third deputy’s key focus is on the planning system, things like land use, infrastructure, etc. This has enabled us to work with the 12 sub-mayors and our constituents very effectively, and to make a lot of progress very quickly.

I think Africa has to make cities a priority and pay attention to the urban development that’s going on. In my view, there is no way other than urban development.

Urban leadership is not an easy job. I have so much I would like to achieve in my term as mayor, and am in constant need of all types of support—professional, policy, strategic. I need support even in prioritising, alongside financial, technical support, and in awareness creation. All these things are vitally important.

With the depth of the problems we have, we need to work and think together.

*Edited for clarity and length