City authorities on Wednesday ordered the demolition of part of a city hotel on reasons that it was built without an official construction permit.

According to a senior administrator of the Kiyovu Golden Hills Hotel who declined to be named, the hotel took it upon itself to demolish the complex within a period of time prescribed by Kigali City Council (KCC).

"We have started demolishing because we don’t want the city authorities to do it, they may do it wrongly. They have given us a deadline and we are respecting it by bringing down this structure,” the source said.

The source added that it was unclear why KCC had ordered the demolition, referring The New Times to the hotel proprietor Jean de Dieu Muyenzi.

Muyenzi, a local investor, could not be reached by press time as he was reportedly out of the country.

When The New Times visited the premise on Wednesday, the site looked abandoned with a lot of construction materials scattered all over.  

Unconfirmed reports indicate that the hotel could have been among the reasons why  former Nyarugenge Mayor , Origene Ritayisire, resigned. Nyarugenge failed to stop Muyenzi from building the complex while it was still at its initial stages.

Lucas Murenzi, the Director of Advocacy and Trade at the Private Sector Federation, said that he was aware of the planned demolition of the hotel, but had no details of whether it had been brought down.

"I had earlier talked to the wife of the proprietor and asked her to inform me when it comes to that stage,” he said.
The federation is charged with enabling a conducive environment for investors by making sure even when structures are demolished; it’s done in a manner that does not hurt their businesses.

Kigali City Mayor Dr Aisa Kirabo Kacyira confirmed that the complex was being pulled down and emphasized that the city authorities would continue cracking down on structures that lack official permission for construction.

"Our officials and the investor share this blame. While leaders failed to stop its construction, the owner knew the law very well but went ahead to build the complex,” she said.

"We call upon whoever is constructing to always seek for official documents, otherwise as of now we are taking tough measures because it is a security issue,” Kacyira added.  

Asked on how many other city buildings risk being razed, she said there are no other buildings at present, but called on owners of permanent structures to build drainage systems to enable better flow of water.     

This is the second hotel to be razed in the recent past following that of the Rwf50 million structure of a Nyarutarama-based hotel belonging to the S.A Hotel Group.
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