Engineering Capacity Building Program (ECBP) in collaboration with the Association of Ethiopian Architects launched Thursday an architectural design competition to innovate the current rural housing system. The competition is open to professional architects, planners, engineers and students of architecture.

At a ceremony held at the ECBP hall, the President of Ethiopian Architects Association, Zeleke Belay, told journalists that the competition provided an opportunity to address the challenges of rural residential environment.

Zeleke said that it was difficult to provide infrastructure such as water supply and electricity because of a scattered pattern of settlement.

According to Zeleke, only two percent of rural households have access to electricity and over 90 percent of them use firewood for cooking purposes.

He said the availability of clean drinking water was a serious issue. Currently, more than 40 percent of rural dwellers in Ethiopia depend on natural springs and rivers as a source of water.

The competition aims at innovating rural houses and settlements, which preserve the positive features of traditional housing, and tackles the aforementioned challenges.

The competition is effective as of next Monday to 23 January, next year, when the winners in the professional and student categories will be announced.

A full sponsor of the competition, Engineering Capacity Building Program (ECBP), will award 240,000 birr to winners. First prize for professionals is 100,000 birr and 30,000 birr for students.