In Kigali City, there is a shortage of over 30,000 dwelling units out of 31,279 units in demand every year, studies show. With urbanization expected to rise to 35 per cent urban by 2024, the housing demand is expected to rise further in coming years necessitating more real estate firms to invest in affordable housing to meet the demand. However, failure to meet targets in executing some affordable housing projects could lead beneficiaries to wait a bit longer for the shelter. Rwanda Housing Authority acquired 38 hectares expropriated at the cost of Rwf4 billion for the purpose of affordable houses projects in Kigali City. However, according to the report of the Auditor General for the year ended June 30, 2020, there is persistent failure to build affordable houses on land acquired for the purpose in Kigali City. There is 18-hectare land worth Rwf2.3 billion in Ndera Sector of Gasabo District and 20-hectare land expropriated at Rwf1.7 billion in Kanombe Sector in Kicukiro District. According to the Auditor General, the field visit conducted on March 26 this year, about seven years since the expropriation exercise in Ndera sector commenced, revealed that the project of affordable houses had not started. “The acquired land was still idle. Management attributed the failure due to lack of private investor/developer for the project,” the auditor said. The report indicates that the acquired land in Kicukiro District in Kanombe Sector at Busanza is not in use. The Housing Authority got a private investor in 2017 to construct 1,024 housing units on seven hectares only. However, by the time of audit in April 2021, the remaining 13 hectares or 64 percent of the expropriated land was still idle. The probe found that the investor had an execution of three years to complete the construction of the units but, at the time of auditing in March 2021 nine months after the end of agreed duration of works, only 420 units representing 41 percent had been constructed. The report adds that cases of affordable housing projects not implemented by investors and developers also remain a concern. The auditor shows that Rwanda Housing Authority did not provide the agreed basic infrastructure support to enable investors to execute their projects for 3,978 affordable houses in Gasabo and Kicukiro district. The works for housing projects on 49 hectares in Masaka sector of Kicukiro District and Gasogi in Gasabo District, Kinyinya in Gasabo District had been suspended by investors waiting for the government to provide basic infrastructure support. Works for other projects had not started by March this year as basic infrastructure were not yet put in place. “Failure to provide basic infrastructure support negatively affected the implementation and timely completion of such affordable housing construction projects,” the auditor wrote. The Ministry of Infrastructure says that more real estate firms ought to invest in affordable housing to meet the demand for shelter that is projected at 310,000 housing units by 2032. Currently 217,000 units are needed in the country.
