Development is good, but unlike other good things, which we are told “must come to an end”, development goes on and on and on... In fact, development does, and will always go on and on and on and on and on and on and oooooooooonnnn, no matter what. Another thing with development is that it always comes at a cost. Take the example of the magnificence that we call the Kigali Convention Center. KCC is one of those projects that will probably tickle the fancy of any Rwandan, any friend of Rwanda, let alone any friend of development. We all love KCC, if not for the aforementioned splendor and magnificence, but also for what it represents in the wider scheme of things. But the Kigali Convention Center’s emergence and completion can only mean one thing: there are opportunity costs to deal with. When a big, bold architectural feat like this comes up to cloud the Kigali sky, there is no way it’s going to be business as usual. Well, not for everybody else, especially those entities that this architectural monstrosity calls its immediate neighbors. If in doubt, ask the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant and go ask the Discover Rwanda Youth Hostel and ask the people that used to club from the former Planet Club which, incidentally, everybody seemed to know by the name of the tenant–KBC. These entities all had to relocate to new locations to give way for the big bad and bold KCC. Which should not really come as totally sour news, because if anything, what was that eyesore of the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant doing smack in the middle of Kigali’s corporate and diplomatic Broadway? That rickety contraption of a building that was partially made of unsightly bamboo simply had to go. Also, the new location and name of the former Planet Club are the real deal as compared to the old name and location. We’re talking of People. That’s right. People Nightclub. However the same cannot be said about the Discover Rwanda Youth Hostel which, as I type this, must be still reeling from the shock and reality of having had to move it from their extremely prime original location to the non-descript –ish new location somewhere in the depths of Kimihurura’s elaborate and winding cobbled stone road matrix. Still on development and at what cost it must arrive, another question that is on I and my friends’ minds is whether the Ndoli’s Joint Supermarket will return to its original strategic location at Kisimenti once that building’s renovation is complete. And away from Ndoli’s Joint, we loved that building for its centrality and utter security of location. That was the place to go if you had a few dollars or pounds to convert into Rfw.
