Akaki

: For|the village in Cyprus|Akaki, Cyprus

Akaki is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Misraq Shewa Zone, Akaki is bordered on the southwest by the Mirab Shewa Zone, on the northwest by Addis Ababa, on the north by the Semien Shewa Zone, and on the east by Ada'a Chukala. The administrative center of this woreda is Dukem.

The altitude of this woreda ranges from 1500 to 2300 meters above sea level. Mount Yerer, on the border with Ada'a Chukala, is the highest point; other notable peaks include Guji, Bilbilo and Bushu. Rivers include the Akaki, Dukem, and Awash. Important forests include the government-protected Yerer and Addis Baha forests. A survey of the land in this woreda shows that 72.2% is arable or cultivable, 7.6% pasture, 4.4% forest, and the remaining 15.8% is considered swampy, degraded or otherwise unusable. Lentils, chickpeas and fenugreek are important cash crops. [http://oromiagov.org/Socio%20Economic%20Profile/East%20Shewa/East%20Shewa.pdf "Socio-economic profile of East Shewa"] Government of Oromia Region (last accessed 30 January 2008).] .

Industry in the woreda includes 3 licensed miners, 11 small industries employing 71 people, and 694 registered businesses including 44 wholesalers, 139 retailers and 115 service providers. There were 25 Farmers Associations with 10,853 members and 13 Farmers Service Cooperatives with 8549 members. Akaki has 85 kilometers of dry-weather and 35 all-weather road, for an average of road density of 210 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. About 16% of the rural 100% of the urban and 23% of the total population has access to drinking water.

Located in Akaki woreda is the Aba Samuel hydroelectric power plant, named after a nearby church. The complex includes the first dam built in the Awash valley, though it is actually on the Akaki river, constructed by the Italians in 1939, and the lake created by the dam has a storage capacity of 40,000 cubic meters. Originally a 6,600 kW hydro-electric plant, it was enlarged in the early 1950s so that it produced 20 million kWh a year by 1955. In the early 1940s, the British attempted to carry away vital parts of the electrical generator, but were stopped after a few minute's battle with the police of Addis Ababa. [ [http://130.238.24.99/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/A/ORTAA.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] (pdf) The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 30 January 2008)]

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency in 2005, this woreda has an estimated total population of 74,020, of whom 38,092 were males and 35,928 were females. With an estimated area of 571.41 square kilometers, Akaki has a population density of 129.5 people per square kilometer which is less than the Zone average of 181.7. [ [http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics] , Table B.3]

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