Sometimes somebody can do the right thing but in a wrong way and the recent mayhem caused by road works is an example. My first question is; why did they decide to tarmac the roads that were already tarmacked?
Sometimes somebody can do the right thing but in a wrong way and the recent mayhem caused by road works is an example. My first question is; why did they decide to tarmac the roads that were already tarmacked?
They ignored all the roads that need tarmac to dig up perfectly good roads; I don’t remember a single pothole on the Sopetrad road going up and down Kiyovu. They at least widened the road, but they put a dividing line that used up what little space they had gained, and they first tarmacked the whole road then dug it up to put up the dividing line, as an afterthought.
The problem at Sopetrad is never going to change, they have made the bottle wider but the neck is still the same. It will even cause bigger traffic jams because the bottleneck will still be there.
I also question the reasoning behind digging up all the roads leading into town. Muhima was closed off, so you had to pass Nyabugogo way, this lead the thousands of workers being late to work every day.
Kacyiru is even more perplexing, it was a good road, hardly any potholes, but they dug it up and then they didn’t even widen it, all they did was cause a dust storm every day. Why can’t we tarmac the untarmacked roads first?
Then we can move on to the retarmacking pristine roads, I understand that these roads were being done with a new technique that gives them a concrete layer underneath meaning that they won’t get potholes for a long time but some coordination would be good.
I commend the ministry responsible for redoing our roads, but it could have been done in a more considerate manner. They should have taken into account the disruption they would cause to the economy of Kigali and Rwanda. The Chinese engineers should have done one road at a time and not dug up all the major roads in Kigali.
My biggest fear is that they will soon dig up the road from KBC to Chez Lando and bring the city to a total halt for months. Soon the rains will be here, the roads will be destroyed and eroded and it won’t be until November when road works begin again.
I have heard that soon all the major roads in Kigali will be tarmacked, it will be a blessing.
But sometimes it is not clear what logic is used to decide what roads get repaired, most people in Kigali are perplexed as to the logic in causing maximum disruption for little public gain.
There should be more done to consult, and explain the logic behind the disruption and also explain the long-term benefits.
Rama Isibo is a social commentator