The headline begs the question, 'which  side of the road?' I am not here to confuse my readers but rather trying to play games and draw attention. When history is   written about the Ethiopian Millennium, the construction of roads and ring roads would have a prominent place in the venue of discussion of changes, although the delay in the bridge construction at the Coca Cola Factory area would be a sting that would fuel criticism. I want to place credit where it belongs.
 

No writer has written on the streets and roads of Addis as much as this writer has over the years, at least on this English weekly, if not for electronic media. In a country where rock-hewn churches and high rising castles were built at least four centuries ago, it is rather surprising that road building technology is so rare that even naming roads is a recent development in a way.
 

I am puzzled to note that it was Emperor Menelik II who started building roads. In fact, he had to carry corner stones on his shoulders to be an example for his followers to build the first road that started from his palace only 12 decades ago. The history of the capital shows that the nobility built their houses or thatched roofed residences, if you want, surrounding their king, thus shielding him from any kind of attack.
 

The same format of protection tactics repeats itself down the line of power echelons. By extension of imagination, road building was perhaps deliberately avoided as part of an effort to obscure addresses and warrant safety. I have yet to read about the prevalence of road building culture in the history of Ethiopian architecture. One may reason out that it was the lack of vehicles that did not make it necessary to have roads.
 

Did the Romans or the Persians have motor cars when they built thousands of kilometres of roads several centuries before Christ?
 

The first civil engineer, perhaps appointed so by the colour of his skin, to have engaged in the design of roads, was an Italian amateur, Mr Minass, during the early years of Emperor Haile Selassie's reign. He must have had a hard time with the aristocrats and members of the ruling class. When his design required that a fence or a house be demolished, the nobility would not budge an inch, forcing the road to make twists and turns. The laity, however, had to abide by the country's laws and respect the rulings of the so-called engineer. A musician was quoted for his slandering lyric that had a pun connecting the invading Fascist soldiers returning home leaving behind the "demolishing Italian Minas".
 

Several master plans were drawn time and again by expatriate town planners and local experts to no avail. The town planners had little or no say on the decision of allocating plots of land for whatever purpose. The city has been paying dearly for their short-sightedness. Time and again master plans have been changed, houses and buildings have been demolished and people have been dislocated and suffered the consequences. The trend has continued to this very day. We shall never know when and where the vicious circle would break. Addis Abeba keeps enduring the fates of her roads and streets year in and year out like a mother who rejoices nursing her little ones while she woes and buries the ailing ones.
 

Looking at the fates of some buildings and houses condemned to be demolished, one wonders if City Hall officials are using the same master plan as reference or not. Some buildings are doomed to be demolished in spite of the construction permits they have been given a short time ago. Sometimes these buildings are brought down to make way for an expansion project or the construction of new toads. At other times, they are victimised for the sake of another man or investor. Corruption is the name of the game in this and other nondescript cases. At any rate, residences have to compensated handsomely or moved promptly to relatively a comfortable area.
 

The big question is why should people and the country pay dearly for the folly of some civil servant who does not discharge his duties responsibly? What is to be done if those responsible officials, knowingly or unknowingly, allocate the same plot of land for more than one purpose or owner? Who is to be accountable for the serious messes amateurs who do not know the city properly are committing?

Take the Adowa Bridge area for example. The residents evicted from the neighbourhood as a result of the expansion of roads were told to resettle at a distant area where other evicts or citizens wanting to build shelters were placed already by the concerned authority. A deadlock was created.

Who should answer to such messes in this land of democracy and respecting the rights of citizens? Who is to blame for this kind of lack of coordination?

The road building culture needs to sustain and grow stronger. Incidentally, the Maintenance Department is doing its job infallibly. The city has changed its face. The asphalted sidewalks have elated the spirits of pedestrians and cripples alike. The roads look wider because pedestrians are leaving the vehicles' share alone. I have been privileged by recent sidewalk maintenance and have increased the coverage of my routine walks.

There are, however, important squares and sidewalks like the Piazza centre shoe shining area and the sidewalk across the Haile Selassie Theatre (ETHELCO) that need some mending. Maybe these and other sites are waiting their turns.

On the other hand, there are new roads under construction. Some of these roads may be completed before the celebrations of the Millennium which is only a hundred and something days away. Will they make it?