In a growing trend many historical places have been demolished in the last couple of months in Addis Ababa. The Kirkos Land Management Bureau last week went to demolish an old G+1 building constructed during the Italian occupation and located at the heart of Kazanchis. The task force however was stopped by an order written from the Addis Ababa Cultural and Tourism Bureau and Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage that claim the house is registered as one of the historical sites in the city.
The old house which is currently used by Urban Agriculture Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture was built 80 years ago by the Italians to serve as a residence. The house lies on 1,000 square meter of land has more than 15 rooms.
Recently the same building which was found in front of this building (in fronmt of Kazanchis TOTAl fuel station) was demolished by the Kirkos Land Management Bureau. The building was also built by the Italians to serve as a worship place.
Source from Urban Agriculture Bureau told Capital that the Land Management Bureau is still trying to demolish the building despite warnings from the government.
“The land Management bureau is eager to demolish and to sell the plot for potential developer, bureaus who are working on heritages told them not to demolish the houses but they are still trying to demolish it.’’
The Land bureau responded that the building is not incorporated in the new master plan of the city and that is what drives them to demolish and sell the place by lease.
“We are not people who demolished heritages which are the symbols of the country but when we look at the plan, the place does not belong to heritages registered in the city, so based on this plan we were planning to demolish but other government offices told us that the we can’t demolish the place.
But Dereje Seyum, Cultural Heritages officer in Addis Ababa Cultural and Tourism Bureau said that the house was registered eight years ago as a historical site.
“As a nation we have to keep our heritages because this is the symbols of our history. The house was registered as a heritage seven years ago and the land bureau should know that before doing anything.’’
Currently more than 440 house are registered in Addis as historical heritage.
Recently two Ras Abebe Aregay historical houses were demolish within a month gap.
In addition to that many historical houses are found in poor condition due to the small renovation works by the concerned body.
