At present Bahir Dar is an autonomous city government. It is responsible for the non-political and political functions of the city government. The political functions are performed through House of Speaker and its Office while the non-political functions undertaking through nine basic offices headed by Cabinet Members. The existing structure of the city government described above was established following the proposed need to separate the "political" and "municipal" functions of the city government. The activities of the city government are effectively carried out by Trade, Industry and Tourism Office; Capacity Building Office; Information, Youth, Culture and Sport Affairs Office; Public Participation and Civil Community Coordination Office; and Finance and Local Economy Development Office. Finally City Service Office, the core line functions including: Urban Planning and Administration; Construction, Design and Work Supervision; Provision of Social and Economic Services; and Revenue Collection and Administration. Additional support services including Administration and Finance, and Public Relations are part of the staff functions.
Areas for administration function are reserved in different parts of the city in accordance with their fair distribution in the future city structure. The area reserved for this function is about 81.4ha, which accounts some 1% of the total built up area. This area includes the existing as well as proposed areas for administration purpose.