Addis Roads and Thirteen Months of Sunshine

There have been some torrential rains in Addis in the last few days. Many of the main roads, including the ring road, have been flooded.

The flood can always be blamed on the poor construction of the drainage or the roads. Yet, one wonders when one sees the ‘well constructed’ ring road. It’s been built by the now ubiquitous Chinese construction companies. These guys have made a name for themselves by constructing roads in a very short time compared to their Ethiopian counterparts. The roads seem good too. At least the paint that is used to divide the lanes does not disappear after 2-3 months. The ring road, however, has one major problem: it gets flooded after heavy rain. It’s hard to believe that the reputed Chinese companies built it.

Ethiopia has long been called a country of thirteen months of sunshine. Is it the case that the Chinese, who were relatively new to Addis (Ethiopia) when they built the road, took the phrase too literally and thought it would never rain in Addis? In this case, they might not have taken the rain into account when they made the design.