The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced that it will offer a grant of $500,000 to a company that seeks to build Rwanda’s first aerial urban cable car network. The grant is meant to enable Ropeways Transit Rwanda Ltd to undertake a feasibility study into the first phase of a 5.5-kilometre cable car transport network in Kigali. The project, valued at $100 million, will comprise two transit corridors: Nyabugogo Taxi Park to the Central Business District (CBD) Hub; and the Kigali Convention Center to Kigali Sports City, connecting public landmarks such as Amahoro Stadium, BK Arena, and the newly developed Zaria Court. Developers promise this will ease the city’s traffic congestion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and connect underserved communities to jobs and essential services. That is a compelling case for any city authority that want to develop its public transport system. It is even more convincing for thousands or millions of daily passengers who struggle to access public transport. Cable cars, although not widely used as public transport globally, they have proven to be an alternative for cities that want to develop their transport systems. This is because these types of cars don’t depend on fuel to operate and are cost-effective in maintaining. Aerial cable cars are somewhat efficient to the extent that they are powered by electricity, they are characterised by low noise, and since they use the available space above ground, they are better positioned to connect suburbs and harder to reach destinations. The latest development has already been backed by research before. In 2018, Rwandan academic researchers published the first research on the use of cable cars, suggesting that Kigali would better benefit from this kind of transport network. That is because Kigali is a highly sloped region and that the construction of roads to reach many areas within the city is economically and socially unfeasible. As a result, a cable car system would be cost effective and technically feasible. In any way, there is no question that Kigali needs a diversified and modernized transport system given the pace at which it’s urbanizing and its population is growing. The proposed cable car project would go a long way to complement the existing public transport system.
