The City of Kigali is planning to auction four plots of land located in the prime area of Kiyovu in Nyarugenge District as it seeks to raise funds to finance some of its unspecified projects. “We are selling them purposely to generate money to finance other city projects,” Augustin Rwomushana, the Director of Urban Economic Development at the City of Kigali, said, adding that the law allows them to do so in case they want to raise funds. He indicated that the properties up for sale are underdeveloped, which is why City authorities are looking for developers. The properties on sale sit on an area above 1,500 square metres each, Rwomushana said, with three of them able to accommodate the construction of a seven-storey building. Property valuers estimate that each square metre in this area could go for between Rwf80,000 and Rwf100,000. This means an area with 1,500 square metre could go for between Rwf120 million to Rwf150 million. Although Rwomushana didn’t divulge specific activities they intend to finance, he highlighted that the activities would include the on-going infrastructure projects like roads or even run operations of the City administration. In the 2018-2019 financial year, the City outlined a number of activities, including building of bus lanes, construction of urban roads and restructuring of public transport. The Government allocated 1 per cent of total development budget of the City of Kigali. The official noted that the sale of the plots is also part of the project, dubbed “Land Back”, in which the City often buys land, targeting future investments. “We used to face problems where investors would come and say we want to build affordable homes but they find that we don’t have land for that, and going through expropriation process is not easy,” he noted. Meanwhile, site visits of the properties by prospective buyers will start November 20. Public auctioning of the plots will take place on December 11. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
