A new Kigali Master Plan, which will lay out the city’s development roadmap for the next 30 years, is expected to be unveiled by August, according to officials at the City of Kigali.

Yesterday, a final consultation on the draft new master plan – which is aligned with the country’s Vision 2050 – was presented to stakeholders at the City of Kigali.

In June last year, the city began a process to review and update the current master plan following widespread concerns by city dwellers on multiple issues, mainly shortage of low cost housing, open spaces for recreational parks, ease of owning a home and access to public facilities, among other aspects which were inadequately catered for.

The Kigali City Master Plan will be implemented in five phases

The review involved consultations with different stakeholders, including the city residents.

Fred Mugisha, the Director of Kigali Urban Planning, said yesterday that people were given adequate time to provide their inputs in the proposed new master plan.

Enrico Morriello Team leader of  Surbana Jurong and Executive Secretary of Kigali city official open mini exhibition where the New Kigali City master plan is showcased (Sam Ngendahimana)

This, he said, will encourage ownership during its implementation.

"We value people’s recommendations because the master plan is theirs to implement. Consultations were conducted, from the beneficiaries [community] to decision-makers, and we are now presenting their inputs to developers,” Mugisha said.

The proposed master plan comes as a relief to SMEs, whereby it provides for their existence within neighbourhoods unlike the current one that which they say is prohibitive.

Citizens at a mini-expo about the new Kigali Master Plan launched yesterday. The New   Master Plan will be implemented in five phases. Sam Ngendahimana.

The proposed master plan also caters for affordable housing units on the periphery of the central business district, which was one of the inputs from the citizens, who said that in the current master plan, low-income earners were being pushed away from the CBD.

Limited parking

Meanwhile, the proposed master plan will encourage use of public transport by at least 70 per cent due to limited parking space for private vehicles.

It envisages that 10 per cent of the city dwellers will use bicycles.

"The master plan will not allow big parking space for private cars in some buildings that will come up in the future. Instead, people will leave their cars at designated parking spaces, with an option to use public transport,” Mugisha said.

Some of the stakeholders who attended the final consultation hailed the revised plan, saying that it was inclusive for all residents, irrespective of their income status.

Fred Mugisha, the Director of Kigali Urban Planning and Construction One Stop Centre speaks to media

"The fact that the City of Kigali put into consideration people’s inputs it shows they want to ensure that everyone feels included and be motivated to implement the master plan,” said Jean Runuya, the chairperson of Rwanda Architects’ Association.

He said that, previously, the master plan was only looked at as a tool to relocate citizens from high risk zone and not in its broader context, which was counterproductive in the end.

The proposed Kigali City Master Plan will be implemented in five phases and each phase has been aligned with specific development activities expected to generate at least 1.7 million jobs in the next 30 years.

The final version of the proposed master plan is expected to be unveiled between end July and August.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com