“Addis Ababa, loosely translated means a ‘new flower’ and the capital city of Ethiopia, is in many ways blooming like a flower. […] The city is in the middle of a construction boom with lots of construction from skyscrapers to condors and roads, and it is growing rapidly in modernity compared to other African cities. It is undergoing a major construction boom, where the skyline suddenly has more halfway-done high-rise buildings than ever before, and new hotels are being built at a breakneck speed. Hotels, shopping centres and office complexes rise from where small shacks once stood. Infrastructure is improving to support them. Tall, incomplete buildings are visible as far as the eye can see. In addition to the construction boom, many of its roads are being expanded and redone.

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Seeing the construction boom, diaspora Ethiopians with swollen pockets are returning with an eye on investment. No wonder some people speculate that in some years to come, Addis will be the new Dubai of Africa, with eye catching architectural buildings – what with the structural transformation of the city, the skyscrapers going up; each with unique architectural designs. And it’s not just real estate that’s booming, but there is also the construction of a light rail around the city being carried out by a Chinese railway company, the likes of those found in European countries.”

Source Africa Business Pages: “Addis Ababa: The ‘Dubai’ of Africa

In 2014, as I was returning to Addis Ababa, I was surprised to find avenues cut in two. What is happening? Suddenly, the whole geography of the city had changed dramatically. How people adapt to the new situation? How does it affect to their everyday life? Some have to suffer inconvenience, while other are taking advantage of the situation. I decided to cross the city from East to West alongside the 34 km rail tracks under construction. ––AZ