The Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) has embarked on plans to renovate the most dilapidated ministerial buildings.

This was said yesterday by the Head of Government Assets Division in RHA, Apollo Mudakemwa.

This comes after the buildings, most of which operate with faulty elevators and lack fire fighting equipment, were found to be hazardous, not only to staff at the premises, but also those seeking services there.

"Studies have been conducted to ascertain what is needed to have these old buildings renovated to the required standards,” said Mudakemwa

He added that some of them were already being renovated, citing the Ministry of Infrastructure building whose renovation has already began.

Other buildings considered for refurbishment are the Ministries of Education, Internal Security, Labour and the Prime Minister’s office.

The works at the Premier’s office will also include extension to avail more working space.

"We have established a renovation plan which will see the renovation of the buildings take a period of about two years from now,” said Mudakemwa, adding that an estimated Rwf 1 billion would be spent on each building.

The buildings in question are said to have been built in the early 1950s using outdated Belgian construction code.

 In 2009, the government put in place the Rwanda Building Control Regulations which clearly define the requirements for putting up public buildings.

However, according to Mudakemwa, the housing agency has held talks with the respective ministries to ensure regular maintenance of the buildings.

"There should be a regular maintenance plan for the buildings to avoid a lot of spending on renovations in future,” he said.

RHA is also in talks with the Social Security Fund for Rwanda (SSFR) to buy four of their new buildings to be used by some ministries, while buildings like the former CNLS offices will be demolished as they are beyond repair.

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