Editor, As an architect with more than 40 years experience including 9 years spent in Rwanda, I see some problems in the construction sector in Rwanda. Kigali has a very big problem of land shortage, and yet the available plots are not utilized well. Very few projects dare to tackle the difficult but necessary task of using the steep sloped areas which are everywhere in the Kigali. This has been done elsewhere, and can give interesting results, but it requires very high technical skills, and a creative mind that is in short supply. A lot of projects under construction don’t conform to anti-seismic rules, and will endanger lives should an earthquake happen, which will occur one day or the other. And the overall quality of the buildings has to improve to be sustainable as they should be. A building should be expected to last long enough up to even centuries, but most of the ones under construction won’t last very long. Claude Bouyssou Reaction to the story, “Housing body tips on construction guidelines” (The New Times, March 13)
