RHA sets deadline to equip buildings with easy access for the disabled

The Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) has set the end of this year as deadline for owners of buildings to have specific access provisions for People Living With Disabilities (PWLDs). They include specialised toilets, signage, designated parking spots closest to the entrance, and substitution to stairs and steps as well as provisions for the visually impaired.In an interview with The New Times yesterday, the Director of Inspection at RHA, Eng. Catherine Kalisa, announced that the institution had completed sensitisation campaigns on the issue in the Western, Southern and Eastern provinces. She said that the sensitisation campaigns are aimed at mobilising owners of buildings and district officials in charge construction to clearly understand the importance of installing access provisions for PWDs at every complex that offers public services in the country.Kalisa told The New Times that the before end of March, her organisation would carry out similar campaigns in the Northern Province.“Our target is to make sure that all public buildings countrywide put in place access provisions for PWDs before the end of this year” Kalisa emphasised.She noted that after carrying out the sensitisation workshops, RHA would begin writing deadline letters to all owners of buildings countrywide.According to Kalisa, the deadline would apply only to buildings that can easily allow for the installation of access provisions pointing out that there are some complexes where such facilities can not be installed as they were built many years ago.She noted that due to their inaccessibility, the RHA would request all institutions which offer public services like banks and hotels to relocate to buildings that conform to the new regulations.“I encourage all developers and owners of buildings to always include facilities for PWDs in their construction designs, because this will add more value to their buildings” Eng. Kalisa urged.The official also called on owners of all public and commercial buildings to ease access for the PWDs on the ground floor, adding that all properties under construction would be inspected to ensure they meet the minimum standards.A recent inspection carried out by RHA on 50 public buildings, including hospitals, banks and hotels around Kigali city, found that none of them had the required facilities for PWDs.She told The New Times that RHA also provides technical advice to owners of buildings on how best to install the facilities.The president of the National Council of People with Disabilities (NCPD), Gaston Rusiha, decried that an order from the Ministry of Infrastructurem gazetted in 2009m that required public and commercial buildings to have facilities for PWDs, has been ignored.He called for more stringent measures to ensure that all buildings have all the required facilities for people with disabilities.