JIMMA UNIVRSITY

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL

STUDIES

ACCESS AND QUALITY OF COBBLESTONE ROAD IN ENHANCING URBAN

DEVELOPMENT, THE CASE OF JIMMA TOWN

A Thesis submitted to School of Graduate Studies, Jimma

University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
Degree of Master of Arts in Geography, specialization in Urban
and Regional Development Planning

OCTOBER, 2016
JIMMA UNIVERSITY

i
 JIMMA UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES

ACCESS AND QUALITY OF COBBLESTONE ROAD IN ENHANCING

URBAN DEVELOPMENT , THE CASE STUDY OF JIMMA TOWN

A THESIS SUBMMITED TO THE GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL

STUDIES SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDENTS ,OF JIMMA UNIVERSITY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENTS OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR MASTERS
OF ART (M.A) IN GEOGRAPH, SPECIALIZINIG IN URDP

BY

WONDIMAGEGN WOLDE DIDU

ADVISOR

KENATE WORKU. (PHD)

CO-ADVISOR

EMNET YITNA (ASST .PROF)

OCTOBER, 2016
JIMMA UNIVERSITY

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 DECLARATION
I undersign declare that is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other
university, and all of the materials that used for this study have been properly acknowledged.

Candidates

Name ______________________________signature_______________Date__________

CONFIRMATION

This thesis has been submitted for examination with my approval as a thesis advisor.

Main - advisore_____________________________Signature_________Date_______

Co-advisor ________________________________Signature _________Date________

BOARD OF EXAMNATIONS

As member of the Board of examiners of the M.A thesis opened examination we certify that, we
have read and evaluated the thesis that prepared by Wondimagegn Wolde and examined the
candidate. We recommend that, the thesis accepted as a fulfillment of requirement for the Degree
of masters of Urban and Regional Development planning/URDP/.

Chairperson Signature Date

_________________________ _________________ ___________

Internal examiner Signature Date

_____________________ ____________________ _______________

External examiner Signature Date

______________________ ______________________ ______________

iii
Acknowledgement

First and for most I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my Advisor Dr. Kenate Worku
for his patiently treatment since this program began. Then, my co-advisor Ato- Emnet Yitna for
his invaluable comment, suggestion and feedback. Without their constructive comments the
study would not have been successful.

I am very much indebted to thank Dr.Kidane Koyas, for his fatherly advice and encourage me for
everything including material support and constructive idea.

My gratitude also goes to Mitiku, who helped me by taking the cobblestone roads picture
voluntarily. My friends Kidist ,Melaku, Mesfin.Getinet ,Tariku and Gitme are also thankful
for their moral and material supports throughout my study.

Finally, I really grateful to, Abdul Hafis Ahmed, Tigistu and ,Ato Bedasa for their heart fully
support by providing general information about cobblestone roads paving procedures, both
challenges and limitation that faces on the sector during interview.

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 Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the access and quality of cobble stone road to enhance
urban development, the case of Jimma town. The study employed a cross-sectional research
design .The primary data was collected by using questionnaire interview and field observation
Quantitative data was analyzed by using mean, frequency distribution and percentage. The
results of each point that obtain in both primary and secondary data were discussed. The ideas
of each tables, figures and pictures these listed in this paper were interpreted in order to make
the information brief and meaningful. Through process the roads of the town both in type and
length to some extent were employed as secondary data that was current inventory data gathered
by municipality .The main finding of this study concerning accessibility was obtained by
calculating of the given roads to total household and population of the study areas and the gap
was clearly identified. The questionnaire was employed the systematic sampling method.
Because the numerical data of households in the study area was available. Accordingly 360
households were taken as the sample size from the three kebeles. In addition to this, roads map
of the town was employed to show the access gaps. The quality issue was interpreted based on
result of community response by means of questionnaire and the statistics methods. The result
shows that, absence of drainage, lack of the stone selection, absence of traffic sign, lack of
community awareness, absence of municipality follow up, construction bid acceptance issues
and other factors were listed as the major finding of cobblestone roads quality parameters that
results deterioration of roads in the town. In addition to the above accessibility issues in the
town, cobblestone roads were paved in the center of the city and peripheral or the outer kebeles
were not equally benefited from the sector. This shows that, inner city was enhanced in
accessible than the outer or peripheral parts .Which means, the cobblestone technology was very
recent in the town. This was other finding of the research in cases of accessibility of the
cobblestone roads in the study area .Finally the research tried to conclude and gave the
directions of the problem solving mechanisms as a recommendation. In the recommendation
part; municipality higher officials, communities and organized pavers were suggested as the
responsible bodies in every activities to keep access and quality of cobblestone roads.

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 Acronyms /Abbreviations

BASMAA Bay Area Storm water Management Agencies Association

CBO Community Based Organizations
CIPs Capital Investment Plans
CPCO Cobblestone Project Coordination Office
CSCBP Construction Sector Capacity Building Program
CPDO Community Participation Development Office
DFID Department For International Development
DTTS Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport
DTTP Development Team Training program
DECLG Department of Environment, Community and Local government
ERA Ethiopian Roads Authority
FDRE Federal Democratic Republic Ethiopia
GIZ Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit
GMF German Marshal Fund of the United States
IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
I LO International Labor Organization
LDC Local Development Committee
MOFED Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
MOE Ministry of Education
MSE Micro and Small Enterprise
MUDC Ministry of Urban Development and Construct
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Science
TVETA Technical and Vocational Education and Training Agency
ULG Urban Local Government
ULGDP Urban Local Government Development Project
UN United Nations
UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund
WB World Bank

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 Definition of Terms

Access :- The coverage of roads to the given community.

Chiseling :- Shaping of stones for street/road/ pavement.
Kebele :- The smallest administrative unit in cities/ Jimma town.
Paving :- Covering of roads and other Building by curved rocks.
Quarrying : Dig up/extract the rock materials for building purpose.
Town :- The small city which has it’s own municipality.
Transporting: - Taking materials and people from one place to another places.

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 Table of contents

Contents pages
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................... i
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... v
Acronyms /Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. vi
Definition of Terms....................................................................................................................... vii
Table of contents .............................................................................................................................. i
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. iii
List of figures ................................................................................................................................. iii
CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................... 1
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1
1.1Background of the Study ........................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Statement of the problem .......................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Objectives of the Study ........................................................................................................... 4
1, 3.1 General Objective .......................................................................................................... 4
1.3.2.Specific Objectives ......................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 4
1.5 Significance of the study........................................................................................................... 5
1.6 The Scope of the Study ............................................................................................................. 5
1.7 Limitation of the Study ............................................................................................................. 6
1.8 Organization of the thesis ....................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 7
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ............................................................................. 7
2.1. Conceptual and Operational framework .................................................................................. 7
2.1.1 Definitions and concepts of cobblestone ...................................................................... 8
2.2. Theoretical framework of the study ......................................................................................... 9
2.3 Empirical data ...................................................................................................................... 10
2.3.1 Historical Background of Cobblestone....................................................................... 10
2.3.2. The Cobblestones Construction process ...................................................................... 12
2.3.3 The Quality and Status of the Cobblestone Roads ....................................................... 13

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 2.3.4. The importance of cobblestone sector for urban development.................................... 13
CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................... 15
3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 15
3.1 .Description of study Area ...................................................................................................... 15
3.1.1 The physical setting ...................................................................................................... 15
3.1.2 Demographic and Socio- economic profile of the town ............................................... 15
3.2 Study Design and Strategy ...................................................................................................... 16
3.3 Types and Source of Data ....................................................................................................... 16
3.4 Target Population and Sample size ......................................................................................... 16
3.5 Instrument of Data collection.................................................................................................. 17
3.5.1 Questionnaire ................................................................................................................ 17
3.5.2 Semi-structured Interview ............................................................................................ 18
3.5.3 Field Observation ......................................................................................................... 18
3.6 Procedures of Data Collection ................................................................................................ 18
3.7 Methods of Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 18
3.8. Validity, Reliability and Triangulation .................................................................................. 19
3.9. Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................... 20
CHAPTR FOUR ......................................................................................................................... 21
RESULT AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................................... 21
4.1 An Overview of Cobblestone Project ..................................................................................... 21
4.1.2 Financial Source of Cobblestone project ...................................................................... 22
4.2 The Respondents information on the Role of cobblestone roads ........................................... 23
4.3 Road Accessibility in Jimma town ......................................................................................... 23
4.3.1 The Access of cobblestone road in the town ................................................................ 25
4.3.2 The respondents Information on cobblestone Accessibility ......................................... 28
4.4 The Quality determinants of cobblestone roads...................................................................... 29
4.4.1 Procedures and paving Stages of cobblestone roads .................................................... 34
4.4.2 Stages of cobblestone road construction/pavement .................................................... 35
4.5. Roles and responsibility of the municipality and communities ............................................. 38
4.5.1The roles and responsibilities of the Municipality ........................................................ 38
4.5.2 Role of Community Participation ............................................................................... 38
4.6. Contribution of the cobblestone roads in enhancing the urban development and challenges 38

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 4.6.1 Contribution of the cobblestone roads in enhancing the urban development............... 38
4.6.2. Major Challenges faced on cobblestone pavement ..................................................... 39
CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................................................................ 40
4. Summary, finding, Conclusions and Recommendations ..................................................... 40
5.1 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 40
5.2.Major Finding of the study ..................................................................................................... 40
5.3. Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 41
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 43
APPENDICES I .......................................................................................................................... 46

List of Tables

Table 1. The financial source and budget allocation for cobblestone projects ............................ 22
Table 2. Accessibility of Roads in Jimma Town ......................................................................... 24
Table 3. The Accessibility of cobblestone roads in the three selected kebeles ............................ 25
Table 4. The statistical table of the Quality parameters. .............................................................. 29
Table 5. Reponses onquality parameters ...................................................................................... 30

List of figures

Figure 2. 1. Conceptual framework ; -Source; the Author survey, 2016)...................................... 7

Figure 2: Location map of the study Area. Source ;( Ethio GIS data, 2016) ............................... 15
Figure 3. the cobblestone roads length in km of the three kebeles .............................................. 27
Figure 4.The Road map of jimma town. ...................................................................................... 28
Figure 5. Cobblestone roads without drainage patterns ................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 6.Deteriorated cobblestone roads by heavy vehicle ......................................................... 33
Figure 7.Garbage on the cobblestone roads by absence of awareness......................................... 33
Figure 8 .Communities degree of satisfaction by cobble stone roads in their surrounding ......... 34
Figure 9.The different stages of cobbleston pavement ............................................................... 37

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 CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction

1.1Background of the Study

Urban development process has taken place in the 19thcentury due to industrial revolution in the
Western Europe. This results an increasing of urban population and needs of infrastructure. Since
that period, street construction and other facility fulfillment was began in order to satisfy utility of
the urban community (Z.Ljubimir, 1989).Urban development has been characterized by an
alternation between systematic planning and innovative strategies to implement an integrated
urban development .This helps to ensuring effective allocation of scares resources and fulfill
needs to the local community (Weldegebriel M,2012).In the urban development process
infrastructure planning plays a great role. These infrastructures consists of, roads, /cobblestone
,asphalt ,gravel roads/, drainage, solid waste landfills, housing, net working, urban business
development and others can strength cities capacity to self-govern and necessary to create
conditions for economic development (Tegegne, Clacey and Godden,2011).Thus roads are engine
for other infrastructure development. For instance cobblestone pavement as any infrastructure has
been contributing to solve urban road problems for a century in western world. (Schmidt, 1966).

Historically, Cobblestone roads construction was the earliest experience of many cities in Europe,
United States of America and other advanced parts of the world. Cobblestones like any
infrastructure played a central role in the urban environmental development at the turn of the 20th
century. Hence using stones for paving streets is not a new idea in the world (Treskon,2006).For
instance the development of cobblestone architecture and it’s prevalence in western world is
remarkable example of the interplay between the area’s 19th-century in human history.

During that period, the granite shaped rock was used for wall pavement in addition to streets
pavement and building of house (Swartou,1981).In the first half of 19th century the carved rock such
as cobblestone provide the multipurpose use like street pavement ,building of house and canals by
masonry or stone workers. Masons played great roles to build cobblestone structures in western
world. Then, they advertised for other parts of the world. At that period the canals like Eric canal
was the practical evidence of cobblestone technology in New York City. After the canal was

1
completed many of these imported masons purchased farms and made Western New York their
home. They needed masonry work to supplement their farm incomes. This is probably the principal
reason for so many cobblestone houses on or near edge Road and the area paralleling Canal east and
west of Rochester in the present New York City (Schmidt, 1966).

In the third world countries particularly in Africa, the provision of proper infrastructure like
cobblestone and other roads access and their quality issue consider as challenges for urban
municipality to enhance urban development and create well designed urban environment (World
Bank, 2005).In Ethiopian cobblestone technology is the newly emerging practices. The Construction
Sector Capacity Building Program (CSCBP) started the Cobblestone Project in 2005 in a dual effort
to create job opportunities and income for youth, and to provide attractive and long-lasting road and
pavement in Ethiopian Ministry of Education (MOE, 2014). According to Ministry of Urban
Development and Construction (MUDC, 2012) “one of the priority services selected by urban local
government /ULG/ for improvement is improved road access through the construction of
Cobblestone roads in the cities.

All participating Urban Local Government (ULG) have included Cobblestone road construction as
part of the prioritized Capital Investment Plans (CIPs).Cobblestone road construction is
comprehensively labor intensive jobs like quarrying, chiseling, transporting, and paving, as well as
the production of tools needed and requires skilled labor. According to, Ministry of finance and
Economic development, (MOFED,2010), Construction of road and cobblestone pavement strategies
within the cities was one of the strategic direction of Ethiopian government since GTPI and coming
GTPII programs. In addition to other infrastructure, paving cobblestones both in cities and towns is
the strategic intervention in Ethiopia micro economic plan. This is given more attention including
Addis Ababa and other towns of the country. In this regard, a huge skilled labor pull is being
developed in the country (MOFED , 2010)

Road infrastructure is one of the problems observed in many urban areas of developing countries
and especially in Ethiopia in general and jimma in particular. Lack of roads in urban and cities
results negative impact for people living in surrounding. Because transportation is one of the
important urban services, which influences and has an impacts on communities these living in cities

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and towns (Sum. M, 2008).When the roads are constructing the access and quality issues must be
considered. For instant the accessibility of cobblestone road has to meet social benefits from the
radius of the city center to out ward On the other hand the quality of paved road is one of the
important measurements to create qualified urban environment. But in Africa the provision of proper
infrastructure like cobblestone road access and their quality issue consider as challenges for urban
municipality to create well designed urban environment (World Bank, 2005).

1.2 Statement of the problem

In many cities in the developing world, Africa in particular, the provision of proper infrastructure
such as road access, sanitation, drainage ,water supply and others lags behind the growth of the
built-up area (Kalimba, 2007). In order to improve urban infrastructure development or to build well
planned urban area, the most important and primary conditions was fulfilling urban amenities. But
most of developing world it failed under the problems (UN, Habitat, 2007).Since the establishment
of cobblestone project in Ethiopia, the quality and access issues were seriously observed as
problems. Jimma as a town, cobblestone technology practiced for the last seven years. Since it’s
implementation in 2001 the access and quality problem issue were clearly observed by the
communities and sector professionals of the town. One of the kebele official explained the problem
of as follows;-“At the beginning the cobblestone pavement was standardized but gradually due to
lack of eligible material ,contractors, community awareness ,trained pavers and paving technical
situation, the roads are deteriorating , Ato bedasa, Hermata kebele administrator. According to the
information the quality and access related problems were also pointed out as follow.
The cobblestone paved roads are less durable and lacks long-lasting to meet objective of the sector.
As everywhere observes the paved roads are deteriorating from time to time by different reasons.
The absence of traffic sign in order to control load was one of the problem that faced on the sector
within the town. There are also materials selection related issues during the period of pavement
such as stone type and size, sands, soil selection, contractors, drainage, etc.

The cobblestone roads were paved only in the limited kebeles out of the seventeen kebeles within
the town. The peripheral areas of the town or kebeles didn’t benefited from the sector and the
population of the peripheral areas are less access of cobblestone project as compared to the central
town .This confirm that, the cobblestone roads were paved with in the short distance from the
center. In Some kebeles, the coverage of cobblestone roads is high and in another kebeles the

3
cobblestone paved roads are very low or completely unpaved. For example the peripheral kebeles
such as, Hora gibe,Ifabula,Bore and Kito furdisa are still no cobblestone roads at all . In addition to
this, most kebeles of the town, were minimum or no cobblestone access. This information
generalized there is unbalance proportion between population size and cobblestone roads
accessibility in the town. Consequently, there is access gap of cobblestone pavement within the
kebeles by different reasons. That is why the research believes as a problem and tried to identify and
show directions for solving mechanism.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1, 3.1 General Objective

The study attempted to assess the access and quality of Cobblestone roads in enhancing urban
development in jimma town.

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

 To describe the role of the cobblestone roads for urban development in the study area.

 To show the gap between cobblestone and another roads accessibility among kebeles.

 To identify the quality parameters /main reasons for deterioration /of the cobblestone paved
roads.

 To identify the role and responsibility of municipality, the community and other stakeholders in
order to keep and managing the quality of cobblestone roads.

1.4 Research Questions

To address or to meet the research objectives, the research focused on the following basic questions:

1. What is the role of Cobblestone roads construction for urban development?

2. What looks like the access of cobblestone roads among kebeles?

3. What are the parameters and main reasons for the deterioration of the Cobblestone roads?

4. What should be the roles and responsibilities of the municipality and the participation of the

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community in order to keep the quality of Cobblestone roads?

1.5 Significance of the study

The researcher believes that, this thesis can show direction about factors that affect quality and
accessibility of cobblestone roads in the town .Cobblestone paved roads can enhance access of
transportation and reduce the transportation cost. The study assessed the major factors that affect the
durability of cobblestone roads in the town. Then the gap of every roads and their accessibility in
person per-km was other significance of this study to identify the coverage. The study was tried to
show the gaps of cobblestone pavement among the kebeles and identify the reason.

To enhance urban development roads infrastructure plays a great roles if it fulfilled both quality and
access. There for, the study could motivate the stakeholders (municipality, community and others)
and created awareness for further reduce the problems. In the study, contribution of cobblestone
roads in enhancing urban development was confirmed.

This is fact that, Cobblestone road construction sector is a new emerging practice applied in some
selected cities of Ethiopia including jimma and other towns recently .So researches were not further
done on this related issues. There for the study can shows direction to further studies.

1.6 The Scope of the Study

Jimma town is suffering from immense and complicated infrastructural problems. For instance urban
street/road infrastructure is the dominant one. As integral parts of the town, reflected problems that
are seen in similar cities and towns are mainly infrastructural problems. This research was limited
more on the Cobblestone and other roads relatively in the Jimma town in each kebeles particularly
Hermata, Awetu Mendera and Ginjo Guduru purposely. The reason for selecting these kebeles is it’s
relatively high pavement of cobblestone roads as compare to other kebeles or the peripheral kebele.
The study focused on how the Cobblestone roads are constructed and issues related with the access
and quality in terms of rock type, service period or duration vehicle traffic, paving standard,
drainage and total coverage. As a case study, the research delimited Jimma town. The three kebeles
that taken as a sample size was the main focused area of the study.

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1.7 Limitation of the Study
The drawback of this study is mainly availability of data, which was mostly expected to gather
necessary information about accessibility and quality parameter of the cobble stone from
municipality and kebeles. But these data were not available for the expected time and even the very
important data this research need was un fulfilled. For instance the numerical data of roads, in type
and their length in each kebeles were the important one for this study to show the gaps among them
and accessibility of these roads to the community. This research was tried to identify the quality
parameters that municipality believed .Based on these quality parameters, the questionnaires was
prepared and distributed to the community Cobblestone as the recent technology quality
measurements were not well known. As a result, some member of the community were not
interested to list down or give the common problems that cobblestone faced .It may be political
related issues. On the other hand time and materials restriction themselves were factors those
affected for the study.

1.8 Organization of the thesis

This paper consisted of five chapters. The first chapter is an introductory part of the study. Thus in
this chapter the background, statement of the problem, objectives, research questions, significance,
Scope of the study and limitation are discussed. The second chapter reviewed the literature in which
the frame works of Cobblestone pavement, road access and quality issues, and others were dealt
with. The third chapter described the research design and methodology. The fourth chapter is more
focuses on discussion of the issues (access, quality parameters and cobblestone roads and their
contribution in enhancing urban development) in detail or it is analysis part of the research. Finally
the fifth topic focuses on summary findings and Recommendation related issues.

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 CHAPTER TWO

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1. Conceptual and Operational framework

A conceptual framework is a set of concepts that carry out the research in a structured manner
and adequately explain the study. This research relies upon the structure of conceptual model as
follows.

Cobblestone roads
construction/paveme
Accessibility nt in urban/ town.
from center to Quality Parameters
out ward

Peripheral Central Have ihigh contribution

to enhance urban /town Types of rock, Size, Types
zones/kebele town /zone
development of soil, Other materials
s kebeles
Vehicle load/traffic

Constructers, paving
High
Low population
populatio
per km
n per .km
m Low quality
High quality
roads roads

Low High Lower quality

Accessibilit Accessibilit Standard rock, soil of rock, soil
y
Road with vehicle ,no drainage,
traffic,drainage,com traffic
munity

Figure 2. 1. Conceptual framework ; -Source; the Author survey, 2016).

7
The above fig2.1, conceptual framework reflects that, to enhance urban development,
construction of cobblestone road is necessary if it fulfills the basic parameters of quality
measurements and encompasses high accessibility to the local community. But due to the
absence of adequate quality measurements or dependent variables such as rocks, soil, road
trafficking and other factors, the quality might be reducing the urban development. Other
dependent variables were location of an area.

This indicates that, as we go far away from inner city to peripheral areas, accessibility of the
cobblestone roads became very low despite its distance from the radius of central town. Which
means the paved roads in the central town is better accessible than the peripheral kebeles in the
study area. The black and large upward arrow shows that, using the standardized parameters and
highly accessibility of cobblestone roads within the town has higher contribution to enhance
urban development. The thickness of horizontally drawn arrow at the fig (2.1) bottom indicates
that, low quality parameters reduce to enhance urban development and cobblestone roads in the
town has lower access in the peripheral area as contrast to the inner city.Which means the roads
were built within the short radius from inner city.

2.1.1 Definitions and concepts of cobblestone

 Encyclopedia Britannica cited in (Tiwari, 2011), Cobblestones are stones that are
frequently used in the pavement of early streets.
 Treskon, 2006) Cobblestone:-is refers to a rounded water-worn stone used for paving
streets . It is larger family of paving stones or the mental construct of stone blocks.
 Kalimba, 2007) Cobblestone;- is a kind of concrete block that used to pave the streets in
order to solve urban roads problem in slum area .
 Swartout,1980) Cobblestone:- Are simply fist-sized rocks. Fieldstone” and
“lake-washed.” Fieldstone cobbles are sub angular to rounded rocks that vary in average
dimension from approximately 10 to 20 cm. These cobbles are derived from glacial till and
outwash deposits and many litho logy are represented in a typical fieldstone wall: sandstone,
limestone, quartzite, gneisses, and coarse and fine-grained igneous and metamorphic rocks
 According to Bay Area Storm water Management Agencies (BASMAA, 1999) Cobbles
are larger granular materials and their sizes generally range from approximately 6” to 24”
diameter and are available in a variety of stones and colors Cobbles are useful as a
permeable pavement in areas where little traffic is desired.

8
 Ethiopian Roads Authority ( ERA,2011 ) defined Cobble Stone (Dressed stone) as Cubic
pieces of stone larger than sets, usually shaped by hand and built into a road surface layer or
surface protection.
 Operational definition or term: Cobblestone;- is a stone that carved from hard igneous
rock (basalt ,obsidian ,and granite )which formed after cooling of the magma on the
surface of earth that cannot broken easily and used for paving street in order to solve road
problems within urban short paths .

2.2. Theoretical framework of the study

It is fact that, cobblestone is recent technology that require theories on these related issues.
However there are two theories that hold up the founding of Micro and Small Enterprise and
their contribution in development process. These are the classical and the Modern theories. The
Classical theory states that poverty and the importance of MSE development correlate positively.
This theory focused on the relationship between levels of income and the growth of MSE. The
theory hold up in highly populated country, economic development, be able to solve through
the economic share of MSE. In other words, the higher proportion of people living in poverty,
the more could contribute by MSE in reducing poverty. The foundation of MSE is to reduce
poverty by creating jobs for youth like cobblestone paving, chiseling and others. The modern
Theory postulates that, high level of commutative innovation, high level of corporation, flexible
and specialization rather than MSE like cobblestone projects (Tambunan, 2006).

Theoretically cobblestone pavement technology had taken place as early as nineteenth century
in west Europe and North America .According to this theory cobblestone is available as either
roughly squared, unfinished blocks or as uniformly trimmed, highly polished tiles, Common cut
stone, used for paving include blue or flagstone, marble, slate, granite blocks that considered as
street pavement’(Jim Gibbons, 1999). Cobblestone had emerged as best suited to urban traffic
throughout North America and Europe. The technology determined to solve urban roads
problems and improve access, reliability and safety and to lower negative effects of transport on
people and environment (Treskon, 2006).

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2.3 Empirical data

2.3.1 Historical Background of Cobblestone

The historical foundation stone pavement take us back to 4000 BC in ancient Mesopotamia and
by 2000 BC, flagstones were being used to pave village streets. Cobblestones were the traditional
method of stone paving, being uncut and often water-worn stones or large pebbles about 150mm
in size. Later hand-cut stone blocks were introduced. This paper takes and analyzes a certain type
of cobblestone road, or stone block road. More specifically, it tries to analyze the cobblestone
itself: its genesis, development, obsolescence, and occasional reuse. As the quote above
indicates, the development of a specific form of road stone could (and would) be cited as an
exemplar of rational Positivistic progress (Treskon, 2006).

Cobblestones techniques show a progressive refinement over the cobblestone era. This is Early,
1825-1835 according to (Schmidt, 1966). At that period the New York's regional architecture
used this stones not for only road pavement but also for wall construction technology. The
development of cobblestone architecture and its prevalence in America and West Europe
counties is remarkable example of the interplay between the area’s 19th century in human history
and the bedrock and sacrificial geology of the area. These continents used the terms for the small
pieces of the stone like sand which is available for building houses, Canal and the economic
development projects .These countries used building cobblestone house as it’s comparative
advantage with building frame house .In order to reduce labor cost for wood and reduced, a
particularly important factor in the inflationary labor markets that followed the Civil War during
the periods they preferred cobblestone (Tenney, 1987).

This paper takes and analyzes a certain type of cobblestone road or stone block road. More
specifically, it tries to analyze the cobblestone itself: its genesis, development, obsolescence, and
occasional reuse. As the quote above indicates, the development of a specific form of road stone
could (and would) be cited as an exemplar of rational Positivistic progress. However, these roads
lost their primacy in the urban environment at about the same time the automobile overtook the
horse as the primary means of conveying people and goods.
As the practices and concepts related to Cobblestones roads which were experienced in early
nineteenth and late twentieth century in different cities of Europe, United States of America and
Latin America, there is a lack of literature review for this topic. And how the Cobblestone road

10
construction was started in Ethiopia will discussed in detail as a review under this title even
though there is also a lack of related literatures. There is some that Cobblestone Pavement is not
really a new concept, even for Ethiopia, this technology was used over a century according to
cited in (Azeb, 2011). This document described that Cobblestone in Ethiopia was first introduced
by the French experts some 100 years ago during the construction of Ethio-Djibouti rail way.
Beyond this fact however, this construction could not show any progress for a long period of
time, and recently, the idea of Cobblestone has started again in different areas of the country in
collaboration with the German Technical Cooperation of Engineering Capacity Building
program.The Construction Sector Capacity Building Program (CSCBP) started the Cobblestone
Project in 2005 in a dual effort to create job opportunities for youth, and to provide attractive and
long-lasting road pavement in Ethiopian cities. Cobblestone projects include labor-intensive jobs
like quarrying, chiseling, transporting, and paving, as well as the production of tools needed
Ministry Of Education (MOE, 2014).As ( UN-Habitat, 2013) described in its document,
Cobblestones technology was introduced in Ethiopia by the France visitor who called Mayor, in
Dire Dewa town. It is only recently (2008) that paving streets with Cobblestone was introduced
to the rest of Ethiopian cities. In 2008 the initiative was started in Adama town as a pilot and
up scaled to 19 World Bank supported (ULGDP second edition, 2011 ) and further spread to 140
regional cities and towns (Mulaw, 2015). And in terms of roads constructed or paved (as per the
World Bank standard of meter width) between 2008-2012/13 more than 2,202 km of
Cobblestone roads, taxi terminal, feeder roads and public squares have been built Addis
Ababa, as a capital city of the country, is also the one which is implementing the Cobblestone
road construction in its all Sub-Cities. And Addis is also the one which is covering almost most
of the earthed roads with cobblestone.

the different researcher treated the cobblestone in different ways. This is obvious that,
cobblestone road has socio-economic and political benefits for the local community. But due to
lack of awareness within the stakeholders and other related issues, it deteriorates from time to
time. The main factor for deterioration is, lack of management and maintenance problems in
development country (Mulaw,2015) experience of Addis Ababa sub, city. Another research
shows, that how the newly development of this technology has cost effective and fasten urban
development in the 20th century (Treskon, 2006). Subsequently another searchers also treated the

11
low standard/low volume road and it’s negative consequence for development in Ethiopia (zaid,
2011). Other researcher also realized that, positive impacts of cobblestone project in order to
create jobs for youth plus women and for food security,( Azeb N,2011).

This research supports most of the ideas of the above Autos .Especially the statements that listed
as a benefits of cobblestone project by Azeb N, factors for deterioration of cobblestone roads by
Mulaw and impacts of low volume roads sited by (zaid,2011) above were major contributors of
this study. But the particular difference of this thesis was focusing on the various parameters
that determine quality and accessibility gaps or coverage of cobblestone roads to the community
of the study area. For instance the quality that explained by (zaid,2011) was more gave attention
on technical aspect of the road but this thesis highly determine the absence of quality in terms of
rock type ,soil selection ,drainage ,contractor issues due to limited fund, huge vehicles and
paving quality. There is also another research that done by (Mulaw B., 2015) in the experience
of Addis Ababa sub city which was more depends on the management and maintenance, issues
that related with budge allocation and farther shows how the community lacks in order to use this
social over head capital properly. His thesis also supports factors that affect the quality of cobble
stone which has partial similarity to this study.

But he more focused on management and maintenance issues. The quality of rock, materials and
contractors related issues that affects the paved cobblestone roads were not further raised and
discussed more. However this research included other factors that affect the roads quality and the
access rate which is related to coverage of the cobblestone road with in the town. Which means
the research focused on accessibility of cobble stone roads and the gaps of pavements among
kebeles. In addition to this, the stone type, size, awareness of community, vehicle load and
management related issues are considered under the study.

2.3.2. The Cobblestones Construction process

The nature of the Cobblestone roads normally depends on the preparation of road; such as
cleaning and avoiding the upper soil, size, types of stone, the status, paving quality, side
drainages position of laying the stones and fulfilling other materials are common procedures. If a
single Cobblestone is displaced (scattered) from the normal position it is put, there is a
possibility for the whole Cobblestones to displace. It’s nature enables it to simply deteriorate or
destruct if it is not constructed in quality as the stability of one Cobblestone in its place depends
on the stability of the other. The edge or the end of the roads which has a connection or a join

12
with asphalt or earthen road can simply be destroyed unless strongly fixed with a cement or
concrete as sited by (ERA , 2011).).

The curve stones should also be properly erected, stuck or fixed by cement and other materials
in order for it to hold the Cobbles. If the joint area between the end of the Cobblestone roads and
either asphalt or earthed road is not constructed with the help of big stone and cement, it will
simply deteriorate and makes other Cobblestones to scatter as practically observed in the field.

2.3.3 The Quality and Status of the Cobblestone Roads

In developing country, every infrastructure has problems which are related in access, quality, and
quantity and other. When these roads were constructed, the quality must be considered as a
major deal because of the aim to reduce the number of Unemployment and to cover all the intra
urban earthen roads with cobblestones. At the beginning people may not have any awareness
about the characteristics of the cobblestone roads, their benefits and advantages to create wealth.

There for the government needs to give clear orientation about their responsibility. Because
absence of awareness can bring great quality problems cited by (Mulaw ,2015). This research
tried to investigate human related factors that affect cobblestone quality within the urban areas.
These factors are vehicle controlling and Management, constructers or organized pavers,
Materials types of rocks and others are expected finding of this research concerning quality
through the data collected and the field observation.

2.3.4. The importance of cobblestone sector for urban development

Cobblestone paving has labor-intensive, creates jobs opportunities for construction

entrepreneurs; uses natural and local materials and does not require imported machinery; does
not depend on imported oil, as asphalt does; is cost-effective as compared to concrete or asphalt
and this road can easily maintain than the asphalt road and has high durability. The road makes
towns and cities more beautiful, have benefits residents and encourages tourism; is easy to
maintain and has a much longer lifespan than asphalt roads (Tiwari,2011). Described the
economic advantage of Cobblestone in his article as, “in asphalt road projects, maximum jobs are

13
given to foreigners because it is based on imported technology, and in Ethiopia, only Chinese
companies are constructing asphalted roads.

14
 CHAPTER THREE

3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 .Description of study Area

3.1.1 The physical setting

Location:-Jimma town is located relatively North of Dedo ,south of Mana(yebu),West of
Qersa and East of Seqa woreda as and the absolutelocation of the town is N latitude
and E longitude(DTTP project of URDP and GIS Students,2015/16).

Climate and topography;- . The town has the average annual temperature of 16.2 °C and the
average rainfall is 1099 mm ( climate profile of the town, 2002). The town lies at the foot of
mount Abajifar 2020m to the lowest of 1700m around Becho bore kebele above sea level. The
town is commonly known by moderate climate which is sometimes called woinedega .The town
is surrounded by highlands and can get rain fall in each seasons. The presence of rain and
vegetation coverage makes the town as preferable for coffee production and makes greener to the
town.

Figure 2: Location map of the study Area. Source ;( Ethio GIS data, 2016)

3.1.2 Demographic and Socio- economic profile of the town

Based on data obtain from construction and business office of the town, population of the tow is
estimated to be 189,732 in 2007 E.C).The town is known by home of different nation
nationalities and which is one of the popular town of the region. These people live together with

15
their varieties of believers and culture by tolerating one another. The economy of the community
is based on commerce and different stakeholders’ activities both in government and privet
sectors. The town is center of commerce due to its coffee production and distribution.

3.2. Study Design and Strategy

The necessary data were collected during the field work and prepared to make suitable for
analysis. Finally, analysis at different levels was carried out. Existing situation analysis was done
to assess the performance of the existing system. Based on analysis result conclusion and
recommendation for the study were drawn.

The research design that used for this study was across-sectional research design Thus; the
required data was collected from municipality, kebele leaders and communities. These required
data obtained by using various tools such as questioner, interview, observation and the analysis
follows both qualitative and quantitatively (i.e.) through the use of statistical tools for data
analysis, such frequency distribution.

3.3. Types and Source of Data

The data source of this study was both primary and secondary. Regarding primary source of data
was obtained from the municipality, through questionnaire, semi structured interview and
observation to obtain the necessary information about the access and quality related issues. Then
secondary source of data was gathered from books, published and unpublished journals,
magazines, bulleting and internet etc regarding on the same issues.

3.4. Target Population and Sample size

The target population of this study was permanent resident of the jimma town. According to
municipality construction and business office, the town has currently seventeen (17) kebeles. As
source from municipality, since development of cobblestone in the town, the paved road was
accounted 30.1k.m .These roads are concentrated around central towns within a few radiuses
rather than the peripheral kebeles.

There is mismatch of cobblestone accessibility among each kebeles due to wide extent of the
town and newly practiced technology of this sector. This research focused on three (3) kebeles
that are taken as an sample size. These kebeles are Aweto mendera, Gingo Guduru and hermata
purposely. The total population of these three kebeles is 32491. which means Awetu mendera
13,217 , Ginjo Guduru 10,106 and Hermata 8, 951 respectively. In the level of household
16
Hermata 1089, Ginjo guduru, 1120 and Awetu mender 1400 according to the information
obtained from the kebeles . The total number of house hold in the three kebeles was 3609. This
research identified the parameters of cobblestone quality from municipality professionals. Then
questionnaire was distributed for the community in household level as above indicated. The
following formula was used to calculate sample size of households at 0.05 level of precision
(Yamane, 1967).

That is , ,

Where;- is sample size,

is total population and

is the level of precision.

Using the above formula the sample size of the household can be :

This is approximately

360; was the sampled household of the three kebeles. These, three selected kebeles were the
purposely focused area. The reason that this research focused these kebeles was due to better
cobblestone pavement as compared to the rest. For instance Mendera kebele is one of highly
accessible than others.

3.5. Instrument of Data collection

Among the various instrument that can be used for data collection, that preferred by researcher
was; questionnaire, interview/ semi-structured interview and observation to obtain necessary
data’s.

3.5.1 Questionnaire
Questionnaire was one of the instruments that used for data collection in some cases; this
research believes that, the questionnaire has an option. Because, it was obvious that, the users of
this infrastructure or the community can easily observes through their way in their locality about
the quality of cobblestone and factors for deterioration. So that they had answer what they have

17
observed about the access and the quality of cobblestone in their surroundings. It is fact that,
after quality parameters identified by municipality experts on the issues, the questionnaire was
distributed to 360 households in systematic technique. It was very important to check the reality
of the problem. They could gave comparative explanation of the project by comparing other
towns in similar way. In this regard the relevant questions were preferred.

3.5.2 Semi-structured Interview

Another tool that was used in this study was semi- structured interview. This is a kind of
interview for which question was partially designed and the interviewer was asked additional
question while the interview is taking place and was enable the research to gather data in face to
face manner. The researcher have used this interview for the municipality expert of the sectors
and kebeles high officials in order to identify quality parameters and access issues before the
questionnaire taken place. There for the research had the opportunity to ask other related
question that help to obtain additional information on the issue.

3.5.3 Field Observation

The third instrument which has been used for this study to gather appropriate information was
field observation. This also provides a better opportunity for researcher to obtain reliable data
and to observe whether stakeholder are facing challenges in order to enhance the access and to
keep quality of cobblestone roads to solve such urban social amenity problems. During the field
observation the organized pavers were input for this study. Through field observation the
necessary picture of cobblestone roads was taken.

3.6. Procedures of Data Collection

It is fact that data, collection consider as pre problem identification when research takes place.
Accordingly the necessary letters were written from the department in order to make the study
reliable and official. Then the letter was approved and the data obtain through tools for data
collection particularly; questionnaire, semi-structured interview and observation checklist were
designed. The data collection process has gone through different stake holders by the given
schedule.

3.7. Methods of Data Analysis

After the required data was collected, through different methods, data organization follows.
Then data analysis and interpretation was conducted. Thus, the data which collected from the

18
different bodies was analyzed using frequency distribution, mean and percent in order to explain
the major determinant, variables more extensively. Different data analyzing methods was used as
much as possible to meet the variables. For instance data regarding quality was collected through
interview and questionnaire from the stakeholders. SPSS software was used to analyses
quantitative data. The results of data were presented in form of tables, graphs, map and figures.
In this research the quantitative method were used to analyses the data.

3.8. Validity, Reliability and Triangulation

How do we know that what the participant is telling us is true? And if it is true for this
participant, is it true for anyone else? And if another person were doing the interview, would we
get a different meaning? Or if we were to do the interview at a different time of year, would the
participant reconstruct his or her experience differently? Or if we had picked different
participants to interview, would we get an entirely dissimilar and perhaps contradictory sense of
the issue at hand? These are some of the questions underlying the issues of validity, reliability,
and generalize ability that researchers confront (Seidman,2006).

Validity

The validity of findings or data is traditionally understood to refer to the 'correctness' or

'precision' of a research reading (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003). Although the validity of
'measurement' is seen as a primary concern of quantitative research, and of positivist research
more broadly, it is widely recognized that it is an equally significant issue for qualitative
research. But the questions posed are different ones and relate more to the validity of
representation, understanding and interpretation. In order to meet validity criterion, this research
has used different combinations of data gathering tools.

Reliability

Reliability is generally understood to concern the reception of research findings and whether or
not they would be repeated if another study, using the same or similar methods, was undertaken
(Ritchie and Lewis, 2003). The possibility of another researcher in the future obtaining similar
findings could slightly be different as it depends more on the type of issues, time, purpose,
changes and processes used. Similar or repeated findings or results arrived at by another
researchers will be an argument because problems like the change of respondents’ opinion on
issues, the time lap between the researchers, new regulations of the local government, the

19
response given by the government or other stakeholders to solve or bridge the problems or gaps
found in the study may have influence on the result arrived at by other researchers.
Triangulation

Triangulation may take several forms, but commonly refers to the employs of multiple data
sources, data collection methods, or investigators. In general, the purpose of this would be to
reduce the disadvantages inherent in the use of any single source, method or investigator
(Longand Johnson, 2000). Triangulation may involve the use of different methods, especially
observation, focus groups and individual interviews, which form the major data collection
strategies for much qualitative research (Shenton , 2004). So based on the above justification the
researcher for this paper has used different types of data collection instruments such as interview,
focused group discussion and observation in order to triangulate the research results.
Triangulation is more a direct check on the validity of observations by crosschecking them with
other sources of data. If a researcher’s conclusion is supported by data from other sources, then
we can be more confident of its validity. Triangulation can involve comparing data on the same
behavior from different researchers (as in reliability checks in more-structured observation) who
possibly adopt different roles in the field.

3.9. Ethical Considerations

Research ethics deals with how far somebody treats those who participate in our studies and how
he/she handles the data after he/she collected them (Vanderstoep and Johnston, 2009) Ethical
considerations are very important for every research or study. Because it is honesties issues that
researcher consider during data collection. Interviewees were informed that this work is purely
for academic purposes and not for other reasons. Therefore, respondents of this study were
assured of confidentiality in respect of all information that they provided.In every case, names
was be keep confidential thus collective names like ’the respondents or the informants. All
documents used have also been properly acknowledged and documented to avoid issues of
plagiarism.

20
 CHAPTR FOUR

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results and discussion of cobblestone accessibility and quality of the
roads. Specifically, the study is mainly concerned with cobblestone road accessibility in the town
in general, cobblestone convenience in each kebeles, cobblestone accessibility rate in the three
selected kebeles, Quality parameters of cobblestone or major variables of the cobblestones based
on the quality determinants and the awareness / the believe of the community or the out looking
of the respondents concerning of the durability of the paved roads to enhance the urban
development,

4.1 An Overview of Cobblestone Project

Through interview, the researcher tried to investigate general information about cobblestone
project, particularly aims, procedures of implementation, stakeholders, source of funds, quality
parameters and other necessary information from municipality higher officials. Thus, the general
foreman of the project said that, cobblestone project was started in this town lately in 2002 E.C
by the strategy of government under the Small and Micro Enterprise (SME). The purpose of the
project was to solve urban road tribulations, and to enhance urban infrastructure development in
order to reduce urban transportation problem. In addition, it is important to create job
opportunities for youth to benefiting the community and to meet GTP I and GTP II plans of the
government. Hence these youth expected to take training from recognize collages/TVET/and
come with official documents.

As the philosophy of the sector, the organized members for this project must be eleven in
number in order to give approval for the groups’’. According to the professional of the sector, the
type and size of the rock that selected for the cobblestone is internationally constant. For
instance, igneous rock (granite) is considered as the best and selective rock for cobblestone
pavement (Treskon, 2006).Concerning the size, international standard for cobblestone is
(10cm3).The funding procedure is taken place by the three stakeholders. According to
Abdulhafiz Ahmed, general foreman of the project, (April,2008), the source of fund for the
cobblestone project are :World Bank ,Local government(Municipality) and Pavers by
themselves. The expected budget for the project by each stakeholders is shown as follow; .

21
4.1.2 Financial Source of Cobblestone project
According to secondary data that obtained from the sector professionals, financial source for the
cobblestone project implementation was not owned by one or individual stakeholder .As
municipality, cobblestone project budget system implements by the three stakeholders. These are
the local government (Municipality), organized pavers and World Bank respectively.

Table 1 The financial source and budget allocation for cobblestone projects

No Source and stakeholders of the budget Expected fund in%

1 World Bank 30%
2 Government/Municipality 30%

3 Organized pavers 40%

Total 100%
Source; (Municipality Construction Office, 2016)

As it is shown in table ( 4.1) above, the financial source for the cobblestone project was obtained
from the three stakeholders. Here, 30% of the cobblestone fund is to be paid by World Bank,
then 30% of the budget is covered by Urban Local Government/Municipality/ and finally 40% of
the financial source is facilitated by organized pavers.

Graph 4.1 the financial source and stakeholders for the cobblestone project

22
 Source;- (Municipality,2016).

Similarly the graph on figure 4.1 above represent that, from the expected 100% budget for the
cobblestone project in the town, three stakeholders are shared different amounts of money.

4.2 The Respondents information on the Role of cobblestone roads

According to the response during the interview, cobblestone has played social, economical and
environmental roles for the road sector and other infrastructure development in the town. As a
data collected from the respondents, the different social sectors ( schools, clinics, police stations,
government offices, other public institutions, taxi parking, pedestrians, vehicles , condominium
‘and residents areas), this streets have brought social changes. On the other hand, the sector
created job opportunity for youth in order to minimize the number of unemployed in the town. It
is obvious that “Cobblestone road construction is comprehensively labor intensive and requires
skilled labor. In this regard, a huge skilled labor is developing in the town. There has been
extensive training program launched across cities targeting women, unemployed youth, and the
disadvantaged groups of local communities. The training program is specifically focusing on
skills required for construction of Cobblestone roads.

The other economic importance of these roads is also the fact that the materials for the
construction are locally produced materials that enable the town, cities and country to save the
foreign currency that might be spent for any foreign materials that imported from abroad.
Environmentally, Cobblestone roads are important in contributing that the soil is not degraded by
water or flood and not wiped by a wind. These are generally eco- friendly designed type of roads
important to cope with the challenges produced by climate changes.

4.3 Road Accessibility in Jimma town

It is obvious that, the access of roads infrastructure fulfillment in urban area is the primary
condition while urban planning employed in order to bring regular and sustainable development.
Because roads are core of social amenity that helps for the mobility of people, goods and
services in the given geographic regions.

According to the source of information from municipality, the town is suffering by the road
problems .Even if the different road types are built in the town, the accessibility of these roads
were not proportionally addressed to the communities in the locality. The accessibility of these
roads for the communities within the town is listed down as the following

23
Table 4. 2. Accessibility of Roads in Jimma Town

No Types of Roads Distance in km Total population of Accessibility of

/Length/ the town roads in dividable
per –km
1 Asphalt 34.5 189732 0.0002
2 Gravel 74.25 189,732 0.0004
3 Cobblestone roads 30.11 189,732 0.000158
4 Earth Road 211.37 189,732 0.001114
5 Pedestrian side 3.0 189,732 0.000015
Total 353.22/m 189,732 0.00186 person per-
km
Source; - Jimma town Municipality, 2007 E.C)

According to table (4.2.) revealed above, various types of roads that built in the town. For
instance asphalt road is 34.5km with the accessibility of 0.0002km.This means, the coverage of
asphalt roads to the total population of the town (189,732), is only 0.0002 km per- individual. On
the other hand, gravels, 0.004 km, cobblestone roads 0.00013 km, earth roads 0.0011km and
pedestrian side, 0.000015km per individuals in the town. In general the accessibility of each road
in the town is very low. As compared the cobblestone with another roads, it is relatively better.
Because it was established very recent (2002 E.C) in this small city. Table 4.2.1 above fig is
clearly shows the gap between the different roads type and inadequacy of the quality roads like
asphalt and cobblestone roads within the town.

24
 Graph 4.3.1 The roads infrastructure type and coverage in (km)

The above graph (4.3) is also shows that, the different road types and their coverage in km. For
instance, as seems clearly on the graph, except earth road, the rest roads are low accessible
within the town. But to enhance the urban development, the earth roads are not preferable even if
it has better coverage.Because it do not have quality and selective to enhance urban
development. The cobblestone road is at the fourth stage according to the graph. But as it’s
recently implementation; it seems better progress than other roads in the town.

4.3.1 The Access of cobblestone road in the town

The Cobblestone road construction project in the town is a type of local development project in
which the municipality interfered in the implementation process. As it’s recently achievement,
the project takes place in the center of the town rather than peripheral. The following three
kebeles (Hermata, Awetu Mendera and Ginjo Guduru) observed as improved cobblestone roads
pavement due to their location in the central town.

Table 4. 3. The Accessibility of cobblestone roads in the three selected kebeles

Name of Population Roads Accessibility

S.No kebeles of roads per-
M F T Types Length in person
km
1 Hermata 1 2.8 0.00031km

25
 4386 4565 8,951 2 2.1 0.00023k.m
3 2.00 0.00022km
4 0.2 0.00002km
2 1 3.396 0.00025km
Awetu 6476 6741 13,217 2 4.553 0.00034km
Mendera
3 0.985 0.00007k m
4 1.625 0,00012km
3 1 2.264 0.00026km
Ginjo Guduru 5058 5265 10,323 2 5.220 0.00050km.

3 1.2 0.00011km
4 2.5 0.00024km

Total 15,920 16,571 32,491 28.843 0.000887km

Types of roads: Asphalt=1 cobblestone=2 Gravel=3 Earth roads=4

Source: Municipality road network Inventory, 2007 E.C)

According to table( 4.3.) above detail information about accessibility of cobblestone roads within
the three selected kebeles and their comparative analysis based on present inventory results of
road data from municipality office of construction, accessibility of cobblestone roads within the
kebele is found to be very poor. As the data shows, the coverage of cobblestone roads is
restricted to be accessed for the local community .For example the accessibility of asphalt road
in Hermata is 0.00031km per-individual .Which means the asphalt roads that pass through the
kebele is very low when it divided by the total population of the kebele. Similarly in this kebele,
the accessibility of the cobblestone road is 0.00023km.As compared to asphalt road in this
kebele, just about the same accessibility. But cobblestone as the recent technology, it has better
progress. On the other hand, the accessibility of Earth road is 0.00002km.
Assume that, on the table (4.3.1) the earth road was 211.37km that has accessibility of
0.001114km per-individuals. This is the highest coverage of the town. But in this kebele, the
earth roads has less accessibility than cobblestones roads. This shows the degree of cobblestone
accessibility in this kebele is high as compared to other roads. In Awetu Mendera accessibility of
the asphalt roads is 0.00025km per individual and the cobblestone road is 0,00034km per-

26
individual. As this number shows Awetu Mendera has the higher accessibility both in asphalt
and cobblestone roads in the town .Ginjo Guduru is another highly accessible kebele .For
instance asphalt road(0.00026) km. Cobblestone (0.00050) km ,Gravel(0.00011) km per-
individuals .According to this numerical evidence, Ginjo Guduru is the highest accessibility
from these kebeles. As table 4.2.2 indicates that the comparative demonstration of cobblestone
roads in the three selected kebeles as the sample of study, there is variation of cobblestone roads
in length within the kebeles. This realized the access variation among kebeles.

Figure 4. 3. the cobblestone roads length in km of the three kebeles

Source :-(Municipality, 2016)

As graph (4.3.2) indicates, the cobblestone paved road in Ginjo Guduru kebele is 5.22km, Awetu
Mendera 4.553km and Hermata kebele 2.1km respectively. Accordingly the progress of
cobblestone pavement in Ginjo Guduru is the highest as compared to others. But the numerical
data of the table (4.2.2) shows, Ginjo guduru has the lowest accessibility of asphalt road than
other two sample kebeles in the town.

27
 Figure 4.2.1 The Road map of jimma town.

Source ;-adapted from Google earth,2016)

According to the fig (4.2.1) above, roads of the jimma town are highly concentrated within the
city center rather than the peripheral areas .Similarly the map confirms that, the inner kebeles of
the town has somewhat higher road accessibility as compared to the peripheral kebeles. The
idea of the above road map reflect that, fig ( 2.1) the conceptual framework .It is fact that as we
go beyond from the city central kebeles to the outer kebeles,the accessibility of cobblestone
roads became lower. In the same ways other roads like asphalt and gravel roads also highly
covered in these areas. This is obvious that, in central town there is high economic activities,
administrative center and highly popular regions. Figure (4.2.1) also clearly demonstrates, the
three kebeles(Ginjo Guduru,AwetuMendera and Hermata) are included in this district .

4.3.2 The respondents Information on cobblestone Accessibility

This is fact that road are jargon for other infrastructure development .Anybody believe that without
Well organized roads web other infrastructure planning is senseless .As the respondent of the town, the
implementation of the project is really need encouragement .It is obvious that “Cobblestone road
construction is comprehensively labor intensive and requires skilled labor. In this regard, a huge skilled
labor are developing is being developed in the town. There has been extensive training program launched
across cities targeting women, unemployed youth, and the disadvantaged groups in local communities.
The training program is specifically focusing on skills required for construction of Cobblestone roads.

28
4.4 The Quality determinants of cobblestone roads
According to construction and infrastructure development office of municipality, the quality
parameters of cobblestone roads are rock type and size, soil selection and damping, presence of
drainage on both side of the roads, vehicle controlling or traffic, contractors related issues,
paving quality ,other materials like sand, ground by itself, appropriate use of the community and
others variables. Based on the above variables, the researcher prepared questionnaires to collect
information pertaining to the quality. The questionnaires were distributed to the community by
the researcher in order to ensure either the given data from the municipality and kebele leaders is
accurate or not. Thus, around 360 households were selected by using systematic sampling
method from the three purposive kebeles to make the data reliable particularly on the quality
parameters and the standards measurement techniques. In addition to this the data was collected
from the cobblestone pavers these organized to benefit the job opportunity and directly to
involve in the development process.

Table 4.4 the statistical table of the Quality parameters.

s.No Quality parameters. No of respondents

Mean
1 Availability of drainage 360 1.9833
2 The selection of stone on cobble stone quality 360 1.1806
3 Standard of cobble stone road 360 1.9861
4 The absence of drainage on cobble stone in the 360 1.2139
locality
5 Availability of vehicle load controlling traffic 360 1.9444
sign
6 Impact of the absence of traffic sign on cobble 360 1.2139
stone road
7 The absence of awareness of community on 360 1.3611
cobble stone road
8 Awareness creation given by the municipalities. 360 1.9806
9 The degree of satisfaction by the pavement of 360 2.6500
cobble road.
Yes=1 No=2 Unsatisfied =3

29
Source: The Author, 2016)

According to the results of descriptive statistics in table 4.4 that obtain by using SPSS version
16, the average mean (1.98) confirms the availability of drainage in the town was found to be
poor. In a similar manner the average mean (1.18) shows that the selection of stone has an
impact on the quality of cobble stone pavement. Then mean average (1.98) depicts that the
standard of cobble stone in study area was poor. The average mean (1.21) in table 4.4 confirm
that, there were no drainage in the cobble stone roads in the study area. Similarly the mean
average (1.94) shows that, there is no or rare availability vehicle control sig on cobblestone road
Again the table also confirms, absence of vehicle control has an impact on quality of cobble
stone roads. On the other hand the absence of awareness creation for the community on the
cobble stone has yet poor as the mean average (1.36) near to 1. More over the table also
prevailed that the municipalities didn‘t give any awareness for the community. On the similar
table, the degree of satisfaction of the community on the cobble stone roads in their surrounding
was found to be to some extent rather than good or very good.

Table 4. 5 Reponses on Quality parameters

S.No Quality parameters. Frequency

Response Number Percent
1 Availability of drainage Yes 17 4.7
No 333 92.2
Partially 11 3.1
2 The selection of stone on cobble Yes 312 86.7
stone quality No 31 8.7
Partially 17 4.7
3 Standard of cobble stone road Yes 33 9.2
No 299 83.1
Partially 28 7.8
4 The absence of drainage on cobble Yes 303 84.2
stone in the locality No 37 10.3
Partially 20 5.6

30
5 Availability of vehicle load Yes 14 3.9
controlling traffic sign No 268 76.4
Partially 78 19.7

6 Impact of the absence of traffic Yes 300 83.3

sign on cobble stone road No 43 11.9
Partially 17 4.7
7 The absence of awareness of Yes 244 67.8
community on cobble stone road No 102 28.2
Partially 14 3.9
8 Awareness creation given by the Yes 41 11.4
municipalities. No 285 79.2
Partially 34 9.4
9 The degree of satisfaction by the Yes 15 4.2
pavement of cobble road No 96 26.7
Partially 249 69.2

An evaluation of the data on the construction of cobblestone quality determinants in jimma town
as are presented in table 4.4.(92.2%) of respondents replied that there was no availability of
drainage on the side of cobblestone roads in order to protect the road in their locality. The
following picture from field observation also confirms the on top records.

31
Figure 5 Cobblestone roads without drainage patterns

From table 4.4 , above (86.7%) of the respondents replied that the selection of stone was found to
be one of the factors that determine the quality of cobble stone. In a similar table (83.1%) of the
respondents agree that the standard of the cobble stone in the town was found to be poor. As
depicts in table 4.4. , (84.2%) respondents’ response prevailed that the absence of drainage in
the town for the cobble stone was also the other influential factor for the quality of cobble stone.
According to table 4.4 the (83.3%) of the respondents have the same opinion that the absence of
vehicle traffic sign has an impact on the quality of cobble stone in selected site.

32
Figure 6.Deteriorated cobblestone roads by heavy vehicle

On the other hand table 4.4.2.(76.8%) of the respondents’ replied that, absence of awareness
creation by the municipalities to the local community has negative impact on the cobble stone
quality. The following picture also verify how the local community require to keep cobblestone
roads quality.

Figure 7.Garbage on the cobblestone roads by absence of awareness

33
The exceeding picture (4.4.3) realized,nonexistence of the local community fashioned carelessness
on them to use this social amenity properly. The picture clearly proves garbage/rubbish materials
accumulated on the cobblestone roads around Hermata kebele.On the similar table (4.4.2) 69.2% of
the respondents replied that the degree of satisfaction by cobble stone quality was found to be to
some extent good rather than very good or good as a result of respondents.The detail response on
this issue was specifically shown as below. As this graph 4.3.3. result depict that 69.2% of
respondents are satisfied to some extent, 26.7% of respondent are moderately satisfied and only
4.2% of respondents were satisfied by the cobblestone quality.

Figure 8 . Communities degree of satisfaction by cobble stone roads in their surrounding

(Source;-Author, survey 2016)

4.4.1 Procedures and paving Stages of cobblestone roads

Cobble stone like any sectors of work needs and takes place procedures in order to keep its
quality. The nature of the Cobblestone roads normally depends on the size of each Cobblestone,
the status, and position of laying the stones on the already prepared sub base. If a single
Cobblestone is displaced (scattered) from the normal position it is put, there is a possibility for
the whole Cobblestones to displace. Its nature enables it to simply deteriorate or destruct if it is
not constructed in quality as the stability of one Cobblestone in its place depends on the stability
of the other. The edge or the end of the roads which has a connection or a join with asphalt or

34
earthen road can simply be destroyed unless strongly fixed with a cement or concrete. The curve
stones should also be properly erected, stuck or fixed by cement and other materials in order for
it to hold the Cobbles. If the joint area between the end of the Cobblestone roads and either
Asphalt or earthed road is not constructed with the help of big stone and cement, it will simply
deteriorate and makes other Cobblestones to scatter as practically observed in the field in

4.4.2 Stages of cobblestone road construction/pavement

The construction of cobblestone road follows a number of steps. Planning, budgeting,
designing, and procurement works need to be undertaken prior to commencement of the actual
construction. The earth work also takes places by; Clearing and Grubbing, Top Soil
Excavation(15-20cm), Bulk Excavation(15-20 cm) and Backfill using Sub-base Material. After
these activities are completed, the actual construction activity of cobblestone road will involve
the following stages (ULGDP Third edition, 2012)

Stage 1: Production of cobble stones: This stage precedes production of raw material at quarry,
delivery of raw material to chisellers, and chiseling of stones to the required sizes.

Sand level one

Chiseling

Stage 2: Surveying of the proposed road: This stage follows ground preparation to make the
ground ready for pavement to determining location, levels and grades of road as per the design.

35
 Ground preparation

Stages of Ground preparation

Stage 3: Sub grade, Materials fulfillment / preparation: This stage involves cut and fill
works to bring the raw material to the required level and facilitating for pavement grade, and

Avaliablity of required materials

To make ready for pavement

then constructing sub-base and/or base layer as necessary based on design recommendations.

Stage 4: Bedding and cobble stone laying: This stage involves constructing bedding layer that
comprises either crushed stone or sand, and then putting cobblestones and the bedding layer.

36
 Pavers on
the field
Laying
stage stage

Stage 5: Finishing work: This stage involves filling the spaces between cobblestones with
crushed stone or sand, completing minor finishing works, compacting and clearing the area.

Filling the
crushed
stone

Figure 9The different stages of cobbleston pavement

Source ;-(Field observation may,2008 E.C)

complated cobblestone road

37
Figure 10. One of the model roads of the town which is built in Mendera Kebele

4.5. Roles and responsibility of the municipality and communities

4.5.1The roles and responsibilities of the Municipality

The Cobblestone road construction project in the town is a type of local development project
and the strategic direction of the government .Hence organizing and coordinating of budget and
other activities must be owned by the municipality. According to the data collected from various
sources, the municipality was the key actor and plays an enabling role in any local development
activity. As the respondents, in addition to facilitating the condition for every activity to the
project, municipality should have, coordinating and managing responsibility to keep durability of
the cobblestone roads.

4.5.2 Role of Community Participation

As collected data indicated, the community participation in the construction of Cobblestone
roads is the key issue both in accelerating the project and keeping durability. This implies that
community as owner and benefiters need to follow up the implementation of the project. It is
obvious that the roads have multiple benefits at the national and local level. Hence, community
participation plays a vital role in development program in addition to the cobblestone pavement
in the town.

4.6. Contribution of the cobblestone roads in enhancing the urban

development and challenges

4.6.1 Contribution of the cobblestone roads in enhancing the urban development

As response that obtain from the sector officer in municipality during interview, “The
Cobblestone project is labor-intensive, creates jobs opportunities for construction entrepreneurs,
uses natural and local materials and does not require imported machinery, does not depend on
imported oil, as asphalt does; is cost-effective as compared to concrete or asphalt roads; makes
towns and cities more beautiful, have benefits residents and encourages tourism; is easy to
maintain and has a much longer lifespan than asphalt roads.” They added, before the
implementation of the project in this town, there was no readymade universally acceptable
solution to the urban transport problem unless highly access and quality roads in the town.

38
Thanks to MSE ’for creation, providing opportunities for entrepreneurs these problems on the
way of solving. It is an important sector in creating jobs in quarrying, chiseling and paving.
Employment in cobblestone sectors is open to all, focuses largely on unemployed women and
youth, disabled working people, TVET graduates and other vulnerable citizens. Moreover, the
market oriented focus of cobblestone emphasizes on MSE’s creation, providing opportunities for
entrepreneurs and to transfer. Although many benefits were obtained by the construction of a
cobblestone (CS) road, the main one resonates around the benefit related to the streamlined
transport that came after its completion. Along with this is a reduction in transportation cost for
the citizens living in the town and surrounding areas .In general the sector has reduced
unemployment, added joint roads within the town and reduced transportation problem, kept the
town beautiful and plays vital roles in enhancing urban development.

4.6.2. Major Challenges faced on cobblestone pavement.

As response that obtain from organized pavers during field observation, they had replied it is
not secrete that, most curved cobblestone roads do not have quality and similar standard .The
main reason for the absence of quality is municipality bid accepting or approvals situation.
Which means the municipality accepts these who submit lower cost. After the pavers accepted
the roads in this situation every materials that they use is mostly below quality. Because how can
they get profits? For instance, the size of the stone was less than 10 cm×10cm×10cm(10cm3 ).If
the cobblestone stone is under this size it cannot carries heavy loads. Other important factors that
reduce the cobblestone roads quality are the pavers them self and absence of vehicle controlling
mechanism. Cobble stone similar to any sectors of work needs procedures in order to keep its
quality. In general the above factors and other were considered as main challenges during and
after pavement of cobblestone road.

39
 CHAPTER FIVE

4. Summary, finding, Conclusions and Recommendations

This chapter deals with the summary of the findings and conclusions driven from the
discussions and analysis of the study. It also ends up with the recommendations on the basis of
the findings of the study.

5.1 Summary
The purpose of this study is to assess the overall access and quality of cobblestone roads and
their contribution to enhancing urban development in the jimma town. This means accessibility
within the kebele of the town and Factors that affect the quality. Accessibility in this sense
coverage of the cobblestone roads with in each kebeles by population per km and the gaps within
them .In addition to this the study tried to identified other roads in the kebeles to see them
relatively with cobblestone roads. The roads commonly include in addition to the cobblestone
roads in this studies are;- asphalt, gravel roads , earth roads and pedestrian in a similar manner.
In this situation the necessary numerical data was available to identify their gaps. Thus, the
inventory data of some kebeles is collected from municipality and the accessibility results were
shown in the forms of tables, and graphs through analysis. The numerical evidence of these rods
in each kebeles was obtained by calculating each road to the population of the kebeles. The
second dimension of this study was the quality parameters. Here, the relevant information was
obtained from municipality and questionnaires were prepared. The community participated to
give necessary information on the questions that raised on the quality parameters of the
cobblestone roads in their surrounding and the factors that affect the durability of this road.
According to this, the results for cobblestone roads deterioration are clearly identified through
the results of the respondent.

5.2.Major Finding of the study

 The accessibility of cobblestone in the study area was found to be low. Which means the
coverage of this road by household/population, it found minimum.
 Most of the cobblestone paved roads in the town were concentrated in the central area/CBD
rather than peripheral. The peripheral communities didn’t benefit from the sector.

40
 The paved cobblestone roads did not have quality due to inappropriate use of quality
parameters and the issues that related to the different stakeholders. As results of the study,
the roads are deteriorating by the quality determinants such as;-absence of drainage, traffic
sign, community awareness, materials and others.

5.3. Recommendations
Taking in to consideration all the findings, the analysis and the conclusion drawn, the following
points were made as recommendations:-
Through the investigation the researcher tried to observe the huge gap of roads accessibility in
the town and variation among the kebeles .Thus, the local government or the municipality
should have to work hard in order to reduce the gaps .

As the quality of roads depends largely on the quality of the sub base, even though it is difficult
to reconstruct, it is better to focus on the construction and maintenance of some parts of the roads
such as drainage to save the existing roads to minimize the cost of future maintenance.
The government has not created awareness to make the community to keep the cobble stone
roads and participate on the construction of the roads. There for municipality should have to
work in order to increase the durability of the roads and inculcates the community in the
development process.
The problem is observed on the part of the government in creating awareness, space and
opportunity to the community and other stakeholders to participate and expected to mobilize the
community to evaluate and monitor the roads.
During the data collection the researcher tried to observe absence of traffic Sign on the side of
the roads. These roads are deteriorating due to passing huge vehicle, so the municipality
should have to solve this problems to protect these roads from being damaged by different huge
vehicles. And these sign posts are expected to be erected in collaboration with the concerned
governmental bodies or Offices.
If any type of developmental activity is done at the local level we have to use the outcome of the
development properly and there should be managing and keeping of it in order to utilize
sustainably. All local actors, , the local government, the community, NGOs, community based
organizations, Micro and Small Enterprises, Religious institutions should also involve in this
activity and develop the sense of ownership in order to preserve, manage and maintain the
development outcomes without expectations to the government or each other.

41
Directives or provisions that guide how to use the Cobblestone roads should be in place as a
legal framework or as a policy in order to save the roads from being deteriorated by any huge
vehicles with very high load. Selection of construction and pavement materials should be an
important element to suit the design, construction and maintenance of the roads. So there should
be a serious follow up on material delivery i.e., the quality and quantity of crushes and other
materials and their proper application as it was a practical problem faced on the process
Cleaning and Sanitation activities are better to be given to the Kebele’s and local community to
carry out and in exchange of this an incentive should also be given as a reward for their best
performance.
As the main problem observed and concluded during the construction was the quality of the
cobblestone roads, it is better for the government and the community to take the responsibility
together to construct and the pavement rather than doing them separately .
Some of the prominent stakeholders such as the municipality, community , other members of the
ton City Bureau of Road and Transportation are better to involve in keeping the safety of the
roads. The government should either take full responsibility to take any measure on the roads or
should hand over the responsibility to the community or to some other set up task force to
manage and keep the roads

42
 REFERENCES
Azeb Negash (2011).“Contribution of Cobble Stone Enterprises to Urban Household Food
Security: The Case of Gulele Sub-city, Addis Ababa.” MA thesis, School

of Development Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa.

ERA (2011) ‘’Design Manual for low volume roads: Road Maintenance” Booklet- part G,
Final Draft, August 2011.

Jim Gibbons, (1999 ) “Pavements and Surface Materials for municipality,” University of
Connecticut, Cooperative Program and Natural Resource Management and Engineering
Department.
Kalimba , Innocent (2007) Integrated Urban Slum Infrastructure Development Case Study of
Kigali, Rwanda.

MUDC,(2012). Manual for Community Participation in Procurement and Construction of

Cobblestone Roads under ULGDP, 3rd edition

Mulaw Berihun (2015) ‘Assessing Cobblestone Roads Management and maintenance’’

The case of Addis Ketema Sub City. , Addis Ababa.” MA thesis, School

of Business and Economics Addis Ababa University.

Seidman I. (2006). Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers

in Education and the Social Sciences, 3rd Ed. New York: Teachers College Press.

Schmidt, (1966) Cobblestone Masonry, published by the author, Scottsville Science

Journal (2014):-Factors that affect road traffic accidents in Bahir Darcity,

North Western Ethiopia.

Sum,M.(2008)<<Infrastructure Development in Cambodia’,in Kumar,

International Infrastructure Development in East Asia – Towards Balanced Regional
Development and Integration, ERIA Research Project Report 2007

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Sweden,(2013) Division of Geo Engineering Road and Traffic Research Chalmers university

Tambunan Trey(2006) Micro ,Small and Medium Enterprises and Economic growth.

Working paper series No 14,center for Industry and MSE,faculity of

Economics University of TrisaktiIndonesiaa

Tegegne,Gebre-Egziabher, and Clacey,R. and Godden, Z. (2011). “Report submitted to

United Government of Ethiopia”, Final Report, 18th July.

Tiwari, A. (2011). “Role of Indigenous Technologies in Urban Infrastructure Provision:

An Evaluation of Cobblestone Roads in Dire Dewa, Ethiopia”.

Treskon,(2006) Excavating Cobblestones: Obsolescence and the Reinterpretation

of Stones.www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/objectsblog/archives/cobblestones.pdf

(Accessed in October, 2014).

United Nation ,Habitat,(2013),planning and design for sustainability, prosperity of cities.,

policy direction

United Nation Habitat (2007) , Inclusive and Sustainable Urban Planning

Guide for Municipality

ULGDP,(2012) Urban Development and Construction project in cities across Ethiopia

(ULGDP Third Revision,2012 ).

Vander, Scott W. & Johnston, Deidre D. (2009). Research Methods For Every Day Life:
Blending Qualitative and Quantitative Approach

Weldegbriel Mezgebe. (2012). Problems of Micro and Small Enterprises in Addis Ababa:

The Case of Kirkos, Kolfe, and Yeka Sub Cities. MA Thesis in Master

of Business Administration in Management. Addis Ababa University.

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World Bank. (2000). World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty,

World Bank and Oxford University Press, Oxford

World Bank (2004).“World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for People. .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road (Accessed in December, 2014)

Yamane,T (1967) . Statistics: An introductory analysis, New York press

Zaid Wolde Gebrie (2011) Low volume roads in Ethiopia and it’s negative impacts

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the Twenty First Century A Downtown Baltimore Study Fellow in Urban Studies

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 APPENDIX I

JIMMA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCEINCE AND HUMANITEIS

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Master’s Program in Urban and Regional Development Planning

Interview to be responded by key informants
Dear Respondents,
The objective of this Interview is to examine the current overall status of the cobblestone roads
in Jimma town in relation to the accessibility and Quality of the roads in order o bring
sustainable development. The information you provide would be very crucial and so valuable for
the success of the study. Therefore, to attain this purpose your honest and genuine participation
in responding these questions is very important. I, therefore, highly appreciate you for your
volunteer and spending your time for the interview that will take not more than1 hr.

Thank you in advance for your Cooperation.

Wondimagegn Wolde

MA student in Urban And Regional Development planning

A) Interview Questions for key informants of the town municipality higher Officials

Position…………………………………………………….
1. Could you please tell me how the cobblestone roads are being constructed in Jimma town sub
city?

2. Who are the participants in constructing the roads? In what way (their contribution)?

3. What is the general effect that the cobblestone roads have on development in this particular
town?
4. How could you evaluate the process of construction in terms of quality of the roads?

46
5. What are the functions of cobblestone roads in the town and what social and economic
benefits could the cobblestone paved roads bring?

6. At what condition is the status of these Cobblestone roads now?

7. Do municipality or any other bodies assess and evaluate the performance and current status of
the cobblestone paved roads? If yes, what does the result look like?

8. What do you think of the reasons for the defects on, deterioration or decreasing of the quality
of the roads? What can be the consequences if the cobblestone roads continue deteriorating?

9. What is the role and responsibility of the municipality in preserving and maintaining the
roads? And also in creating awareness on the community to keep the safety of the roads?

10. How much is the weight of vehicles that are permeable to pass on the cobblestone roads?

11. What is the role of the community and other local development actors in constructing these
cobblestone roads? In cleaning, preserving and maintaining the roads?

12 What problems do you observe to be corrected in the cobblestone roads?

13. What are your suggestions or possible solutions for these problems in order for roads to be
used sustainably while they are in a good condition?
14. What types of rocks do commonly used for cobblestone pavement? And what are other
quality measurements?

47
 Appendix II

Jimma University

Collage of Social Science and Humanities

Department of Geography and Environmental studies

Masters program in Urban and Regional Development planning questionnaire for the community
(Respondent).

Dear respondents:- the objective of this questionnaire is to examine the current overall status of
the cobble stone road in order to bring sustainable development. The information you provide
would be very cervical and so valuable for the success of the very crucial and so valuable for the
success of the study.

Therefore, to attain this purpose your honest and genuine participation in responding these
questionnaires is very important. There for I highly appreciate you for your volunteer and
spending your time for the questionnaires.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Wondimagen Wolde

M.A students in urban and Regional Development Planning.

Questionnaires for the key information to community

Read the following choice and use this sign (√)

1. Is there any drainage on the side of the cobble stone road in your locality?
Yes No I don’t know

2. Does the selection of the stone has an impacts on cobble stone quality.
Yes No I’m not sure
3. Do you think that the cobble stone paved road in your surrounding is standardized?
Yes No I don’t know
4. Do you think that the absence of drainage on the side of cobble stone road has an impact?

48
 Yes No partially
5. Is there any vehicle load controlling traffic sign in your surrounding?
Yes No partially
6. If your answer is yes on “No” 5 its absence has an impact on the cobble stone road?
Yes No to some extent
7. Do you think that misunderstanding of the community on the cobble stone road has
negative impact?
Yes No to some extent
8. Is there any awareness creation given by the municipality?
Yes No I don’t know

9. How did you satisfied by the pavement of cobble stone road in your surrounding?
Very good good to some extent

10.Is there any other quality parameters of cobblestone ?

49
 ጅማ ዩኒቨርስቲ II

የድህረ ምረቃ ትምህርት ክፍል

የማህበረሰብ ሳይንስ ኮሌጅ

የጂኦግራፊና የአካባቢ ጥናት ትምህርት ክፍል

የከተማና ክልል ፕላን ለጋራ ልማት ለማስተርስ ፕሮግራም ለጥናት የቀረበ መጠይቅ

ውድ መላሾች፡- የዚህ ጥናት መጠይቅ ዋና አላማ ለጅማ ከተማ እየተከናወነ ያለው

የኮብል እስቶን ግንባታ (ማንጠፍ) ተደራሽነትና ጥራትን በተመለከተ ነው፡፡ በመጠይቁ
ውስጥ የተካተቱ ነጥቦች ይበልጥ ጥራትን የተመለከቱ ይሆናሉ፡፡ ከምክር ቤት የመንገድ
ግንባታ ቢሮ በተገኘው መረጃ መሰረት የኮብል እስቶን መንገድን ጥራት የሚወስኑ
ነገሮች፣ የውሃ መሄጃ ቦይ(drainage)፣ የድንጋይ አይነትና ቅርፅ፣ የአፈር አይነት ፣
የኮንስትራክተሮች (አንጣፊዎች) ልምድና ዕውቀት ፣ የተሽከርካሪ ክብደት መመጣጠኑን፣
የሚገነባበት የመሬት ሁኔታ እና አስፈላጊ ሌሎች ማተሪያሎች መሟላት መሆኑን
በሴክተሩ እውቀት ካላቸው ሰዎች መረጋገጥ ተችሏል፡፡ በመሆኑም የእነዚህን እውነት
ለማረጋገጥ በጉዳዩ ቅርበት ላላቸው የከተማ ነዋሪዎች የቀርቡ መጠይቆች፡፡

ወንድማገኝ ወልዴ፡- የከተማና ክልል ፕላን ለጋራ ልማት ተማሪ

ለቀበሌ ነዋሪዎች የቀርቡ መጠይቆች

የሚከተሉትን ጥያቄዎች በማንበብ በሚስማሙት ላይ ይህንን (√) ምልክት አድርጉ፡፡

1. በከተማ ውስጥ ያለው የኮብል እስቶን መንገድ ደረጃውን የጠበቀ ነው ይላሉ?

አዎ አይደለም አላውቅም
2. የኮብል እስቶን መንፈድን ጥራት ለማስጠበቅ የድንጋይ አመራረጥ ወሳኝ መሆኑን
ያምናሉ?
አዎ አይደለም በመጠኑ
3. በአካባቢዎ የኮብል እስቶን መንገድ ሲገባ (ሲነጠፍ) የውሃ ወይም ጎርፍ መውረጃ በበቂ
ሁኔታ ተሟልተው አይተዋል?

50
 አዎ አይቼ አላውቅም በመጠኑ
4. በጥቄ ቁጥር “3” ላይ ባለው ሀሳብ ላይ በመመስረት የጎርፍ መውረጃ ያለመኖር
የመንገድ ጥራት መጓደል ምክንያት ነው ብለው ያምናሉ?
አዎ አይደለም አይመስለኝም

5. በአካባቢዎ ባለው የኮብል እስቶን መንገዶች የተሸከርካሪ ክብደት መቆጣጠሪያ ምልክት

አለ?
አዎ የለም አልፎ አልፎ
6. በጥያቄ ቁጥር “5” መልሶዎ “የለም” ከሆነ የተሸከርካሪ ክብደት መቆጣጠሪያ ያለመኖር
የመንገዱ መፈራረስ ምክንያት ነው ብለው ያምናሉ?
አዎ አይደለም አይመስለኝም
7. በአንድ አንድ አካባቢዎች አካባቢው ህብረተሰብ ከግንዛቤ ማጣት የተነሳ ደረቅና ፈሳሽ
ቆሻሻዎችን በኮብል እስቶን መንገድ ላይ ሲጥሉ ይታያል፡፡ ይህ የመንደጉ መፈራረስ
ምክንያት ነው ብለው ያምናሉ?
አዎ አይደለም በመጠኑ
8. በጥያቄ ቁጥር “7” መልስዎ “አዎ” ከሆነ ምክር ቤቱ የኮብል እስቶን መንገድ
አጠቃቀምን አስመልክቶ የግንዛቤ ማስጨበጫ ትምህርት ሰጥቶ ያውቃል
አዎ አያውቅም

ክፍል ሁለት

ሌሎች የኮብል እስቶን ጥራት መጓደል ምክንያቶችን ቢዘረዝሩልን

51
 APPENDIXIII

Descriptive Statistics

Questions that raised for Std.

the community Minimu Maximu Deviatio Varian
Range m m Mean n ce

Statisti Std. Statist

Statistic c Statistic Statistic Statistic Error Statistic ic

Is there any drainage in

360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.9833 .01469 .27878 .078
your locality?

Does the selection of stone

has impact on cobble stone 360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.1806 .02598 .49303 .243
quality?

Is your surrounding cobble

360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.9861 .02171 .41197 .170
stone standardized?

Is the absence of drainage

has an impact on cobble 360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.2139 .02789 .52918 .280
stone road?

Is there any vehicle load

360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.9444 .01864 .35361 .125
controlling traffic sign?

Is there any impact of the

absence of traffic sign on 360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.2139 .02705 .51314 .263
cobble stone road?

Is the absence of
awareness of community
360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.3611 .02931 .55619 .309
has an impact on cobble
stone road?

52
Is there any awareness
creation given by the 360 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.9806 .02407 .45666 .209
municipalities?

How do you observe about

the degree of satisfaction
360 2.00 1.00 3.00 2.6500 .02943 .55830 .312
by the pavement of cobble
in your surrounding?

Valid N (list wise)

360

Statistical out put of the quality parameters

Variables Mean Std. Error
Mean

Is there any drainage in your locality? 1.98

.01469

Does the selection of stone have impact on cobble 1.18

stone quality? .02598

Is your surrounding cobble stone standardized? 1.98

.02171

Is the absence of drainage has an impact on cobble 1.21

stone road? .02789

Is there any vehicle load controlling traffic sign? 1.94

.01864

53
Is there any impact of the absence of traffic sign on 1.21
cobble stone road? .02705

Is there any awareness creation given by the 1.98

municipalities? .02931

How do you observe about the degree of satisfaction 2.65

.02407
by the pavement of cobble in your surrounding?

.02943

54
 One-Sample Test

Test Value = 0

Questions on quality 95% Confidence

determinants Interval of the

Mean Difference

t df Sig. (2-tailed) Difference Lower Upper

Does the selection of

stone has impact on 45.433 359 .000 1.18056 1.1295 1.2317
cobble stone quality?
Is your surrounding
cobble stone 91.471 359 .000 1.98611 1.9434 2.0288
standardized?
Is the absence of
drainage has an impact 43.524 359 .000 1.21389 1.1590 1.2687
on cobble stone road?
Is there any vehicle load
104.334 359 .000 1.94444 1.9078 1.9811
controling traffic sign?
Is there any impact of
the absence of traffic
44.884 359 .000 1.21389 1.1607 1.2671
sign on cobble stone
road?
Is the absence of
awareness of
community has an 46.432 359 .000 1.36111 1.3035 1.4188
impact on cobble stone
road?
Is there any awareness
creation given by the 82.290 359 .000 1.98056 1.9332 2.0279
municipalities?

55
How do you observe
about the degree of
satisfaction by the 90.059 359 .000 2.65000 2.5921 2.7079
pavement of cobble in
your surrounding?
Is there any drainage in
134.987 359 .000 1.98333 1.9544 2.0122
your locality?

Data setting procedures all the way through SPSS version 16.
The following Sample of data shows that, the individual response on questionnaire.
Where;-1.0=No
2.0=Yes
3.0=I’m not sure/I don’t know/Not satisfied .

1.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

2.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 3.0

3.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 2.0

4.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 3.0 3.0

5.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0

6.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 3.0

7.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 3.0

8.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0

9.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0

10.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0

11.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

12.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0

56
13.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0

14.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

15.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0

16.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0

17.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 2.0

18.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 2.0

19.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 2.0

20.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

21.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.0

Cobblestone raw materials (inputs)

Crush sand for cobblestone building 57

Field observation(May,2016)