EDITORIAL: Dealing with city congestion will require a multi-pronged approach

The City of Kigali has announced that, beginning next month, existing city roads will be expanded. The project will see about 54 kilometres of roads upgraded to dual carriage, with two lanes on each side. This is a very welcome development, especially with the pressures existing road infrastructure is facing. This is a result of a growing population and an increasing number of automobiles. There are days, especially during rush hours, when some of the roads are almost impassable due to traffic jam. This, therefore, makes the effort by the government to expand some of the busiest roads in Kigali very welcome. Lessons can be drawn from this situation where the City has had to pay huge amounts of money to expropriate people to pave way for the expansion works. This has not only come at a cost to the taxpayer, but also inconvenienced those that fell within the demarcations of the expanded roads. Important to note is that Kigali being a fast growing City, authorities should start thinking about the future beyond the dual carriage roads. The City should start planning for building roads and infrastructure in the outskirts of the City. By putting good quality roads and network, people will be motivated to live out of the city, therefore decongesting it. Not everyone has to leave within 10 minutes from the city. Just like the recent upgrade of roads in Kimihurura, the same should apply to areas like Bumbogo, Gahanga, Rusosoro, Rebero to mention but a few. The experience should be shared with the emerging metropolis in the country so that what the authorities in Kigali have gone through is not experienced by others where there is still room for planning ahead. Of course this should not be looked at as solely a government undertaking; with incentives, the private sector should come on board and set up other facilities such as schools, entertainment spots and shopping centres as well as medical facilities.

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EDITORIAL: Dealing with city congestion will require a multi-pronged approach