Mr. Kebede Abebe:

I thank the Vice Chairman for his very good questions. We take both approaches in serving people in severely slum conditions - mostly reconstruction but also moving some into greenfield areas. In some locations, the Government gives us open areas on which to build. They are nicely built, durable houses constructed in rows. We do not have storms such as those that occur in Haiti, but the dwellings are built to withstand prevailing conditions. In my service of 12 years, there was only one case where the roof of a house was blown away. We discovered it was partly a result of workmanship in that specific case. In general, however, the houses we have built are withstanding the elements.

As I said, the work we do in slum areas is largely renovation. It is essentially firefighting to save people's lives today. There is no long-term planning; it is about putting a roof on people's houses. The new houses we construct are durable - designed to last at least half a century, according to our estimation. Repair of these houses using the same materials will not be difficult or costly. Our objective is to ensure they are easily repairable, cost effective, manageable, easily extended and not susceptible to soil conditions. They are good quality solutions and the repayments people make are used to build houses for other families. There is an affordability issue here. If we propose to build brick houses, for instance, people will not be able to afford them. This is another justification for adopting indigenous construction.