At least 70 per cent of Kigali City inhabitants reside in unplanned settlements, City Mayor Dr. Aisa K Kirabo said. She estimated that 900,000 city dwellers reside in unplanned houses. “We shouldn’t continue with such outdated building style which cause unhygienic housings” she said last week during a press conference in City Council Hall. There are only 25,000 planed structures. Kirabo however said that plans are underway to make sure that the city gets building structures that match with its new master plan still under scrutiny. She singled out the high class housing estates at Gacuriro and low-cost ones at Batsinda suburban areas in Gasabo District, as the role model for needed planned settlements. On the issue of inhabitants who breach the city building guidelines, the mayor demanded everyone to be a watchdog for such offenders. Present at the conference was Nyarugenge District Mayor, Orgeune Rutayisire who said that some people have deliberately breached architectural guidelines given to them by concerned parties. But Rutayisire distanced from commenting on last July’s collapse of a site of a businessman Asinapol Rwigara, which Nyarugenge district engineer was reportedly to have had a hand. “What I can say is that, Rwigara is being charged of fault he committed on that site, but not for documents that permitted him to start construction. Therefore, Nyarugenge district has no case to answer,” that’s all Rutayisire could say.Ends
