As the country gears up for the twice postponed Commonwealth Heads of State Summit (CHOGM), which will be held in Kigali in June this year, the City of Kigali has been busy expanding roads to ease traffic flow during the meeting. The plan, according to authorities, is to not only ensure the guests are assured of seamless movement, but also minimise interruption of citizens as they go about their business during the period of the meeting. Previous high profile events have been characterized with heavy traffic on some of the major roads especially the Airport Road and it is anticipated that the meeting will even draw more guests than many previous gatherings. Residents try to collect their bricks in the ruins of their houses Already, houses and other structures on one flank of the Kimicanga-Kacyiru US Embassy road have been knocked down to pave the way for the expansion of the road. “We have a number of roads that we are working on that we want completed by May to ensure that they are in use during the meeting,” Merard Mpabwanamaguru, the City of Kigali vice mayor in charge of urbanisation and infrastructure development, told The New Times in an interview last week. Other roads being upgraded includes one that passes below the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE) and Kigali Public Library is also being expanded. On Tuesday March 1, at around 11am, all structures that were in the area planned for road expansion had been demolished- some partially, and others completely down, as graders were levelling the ground in some parts. Jean-Pierre Muziganyi has lived in the neighbourhood below MINUBUMWE for more than 30 years and has been laboring in this street for 28 of them. At the time of our interview, he was busy uncovering a soak pit from a demolished home in order to save some iron rods for re-sell. He told The New Times that he is excited, now that he will have a nice road to ride his bicycle on, as part of his daily job is to carry luggage, among other things. “This place will be cleaner. It is always messy when it rains, and dangerous too. But now the movement will be smooth, and more businesses are going to come up,” Muziganyi said. On the other part of Kacyiru, just below the American Embassy on the right side, demolishing activities seemed to be done and about a dozen laborers were removing stones and metals so that the leveling begins. Bahufite has been a resident of this area for four years now. He told The New Times that the road expansion activities are instilling hope to the beautification of the area. “Roads and development are synonymous, and this precise project will reduce traffic jam, saving time for everyone. I feel happy about it,” he added. At the start of 2022, President Paul Kagame and the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland announced that CHOGM which was due to have been held in Kigali in June 2020- but was later postponed twice due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, had been set for the week of 20 June, 2022. According to city officials, apart from upgrading to foster urban mobility and public transportation, tourism and hospitality projects are also being invested in so that the guests have a better experience while in Kigali.
