Research for Development – Chances for Ethiopia
Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development EiABC, Addis Abba, Ethiopia on January 23rd, 2014. Steel-reinforced concrete is the most common building material in the world, and developing countries use close to 90 percent of the cement and 80 percent of the steel consumed by the global construction sector. However, very few developing countries have the ability or resources to produce their own steel or cement, forcing them into an exploitative import-relationship with the developed world, as the case of Ethiopia shows very clearly. Out of 54 African nations, only100