ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian government announced plans on Thursday to give housing benefits to 1.1 million residents of Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa.
Ambachew Mekonen, Minister of Ethiopian Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MoUDH), said the Ethiopian government will invest 860 million U.S. dollars to ease the capital city's housing shortages.
The money in particular would be used to complete 132,000 unfinished houses in the current Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2017/18 that started July 9.
The Ethiopian government has in the past 12 years constructed and transferred 175,000 houses to Addis Ababa residents in a bid to keep up with the housing needs of a rapidly growing urban population.
The government has identified meeting the housing needs of its population as part of good governance pledge it made to bring long-term prosperity and stability to one of Africa's fastest growing economies.
