The City of Kigali is working to reduce building permit processing from 21 days to between 7 and 14 days.

The issue was discussed on Wednesday, October 8, as part of Rwanda Architecture Week, bringing together the City of Kigali, architects and other professionals involved in the construction and real estate sector.

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Fulgence Dusabimana, Vice Mayor of Kigali in charge of Urbanisation and Infrastructure, said the city is working to shorten the waiting period, which can also include time spent correcting applications.

"We are doing the best to shift from 21 days of waiting, which sometimes includes the correction, to 7-14 days to give out permits,” Dusabimana said.

He said the city is reviewing the resources used in permit processing and considering having some categories of work handled by qualified companies.

He also said they are also studying the use of editable versions of architectural and engineering designs to make technical reviews easier.

Dusabimana did not specify when the seven-to-14-day target would take effect.

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Architects at the meeting said reducing the number of days alone would not resolve all delays.

Angelo Mbonimpa, an architect, said the review process can become lengthy when comments from reviewers require several rounds of corrections and resubmissions.

"Another challenge is that review comments are sometimes not specific enough to clearly guide us on how to make the required corrections,” Mbonimpa said.

He said architects can also struggle to get direct clarification from the person reviewing a project, even when a short discussion could resolve an issue quickly.

"Reducing the review period from 21 days to seven to 14 days would certainly help,” he said. "However, I believe that faster review alone will not fully solve the problem.”

Chemi Andrew, head of the architecture department Institut d'Enseignement Supérieur de Ruhengeri (INES -Ruhengeri), said the different requirements that have to be considered during the approval process can bring a project to a halt.

He cited requirements related to green spaces and other project specifications, saying waiting for all the requirements to be reviewed can make the approval process longer.

"If that green light is not given, everything kind of comes to a standstill,” he said, referring to the approval required before construction can proceed.

Fred Manzi Karasira, managing director of Neza Spaces, said the permit process has improved over years. He noted that projects could take 30 to 40 days to receive a response.

He said the time taken by a project can still increase when architects are required to make repeated modifications to their submissions.

Manzi said architects also have a responsibility to understand and meet applicable requirements, including regulations and zoning provisions, before submitting projects for approval.

The meeting also addressed challenges in areas where land-use planning is still being finalised.

Gloria Luce Nishimwe, chairperson of the Governing Council of the Rwanda Institute of Architects, said professionals and city authorities will work together to reduce delays while planning decisions are being made.

She said the discussions included placing caveats on affected land to discourage people from investing in projects that may not be permitted under the final plan, as well as identifying areas where development should not take place.

The city did not provide figures on permit applications, resubmissions or average turnaround time.