No abstract

This paper analyzed the equitable allocation of infrastructure across regional states in Ethiopia. In general, in the past years, there has been a good start in the infrastructure sector in Ethiopia. However, the governance and equity system of infrastructure in Ethiopia is not flexible, not technology-oriented, not fair, and not easily solved. The results of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) showed that there is a lack of institutional capacity, infrastructure governance, and equity, which has negatively impacted the state- and nation-building processes in Ethiopia. According to the interviewees, so long as the unmet demand for infrastructure exists, it remains a key restrain on doing business in most Ethiopian regional states. This is due to the lack of integrated frameworks, as there are coordination failures (lack of proper government intervention, including a lack of proper understanding and implementation of the constitution and the federal system). In Ethiopia, to reduce these bottlenecks arising from the lack of institutional capacity, infrastructure governance, and equity and their effects on nation-building, first of all, the government has to critically hear the people, deeply assess the problems, and come to the point and then discuss the problems and the way forward with the society at large.

The issue of regional inequity/disparity in infrastructure development has been debated for an effective state-and-nationbuilding processes in the context of Ethiopia. Infrastructure equity process necessitates changes in policies to accommodate new evolving trends and factors. The purpose of the article is to identify the impacts of infrastructure inequity on nationbuilding process including the interrelationships of these constructs/variables. It supports to know the level of (in) equity of public infrastructure growths and its crucial factors in Ethiopia. By analyzing the data (both quantitative and qualitative) gathered, the paper displays that the equity of public infrastructure investments is falling/disrupting and is negatively impacting the nation-building processes in Ethiopia. This is mainly due to the coordination failure of the government. Thus, a unit percentage change of infrastructure equity, for example, would lead to a 59.2% increment in the nation-building process of Ethiopia taking the remaining effect as a constant.