Senators this morning began a countrywide tour to assess the progress of urbanisation and how vulnerable groups such as Genocide survivors, the historically marginalised, and Rwandans expelled from Tanzania have been settled.

The ten-day tour will see the senators visit at least sixteen districts, including all the districts in the City of Kigali.

According to a statement from parliament, the lawmakers will be assessing the situation of human settlement in Rwanda, how the country’s human settlement policy and laws are respected, and the problems encountered in these settlements and measures in place to mitigate them.

"Even if a lot has been achieved in terms of proper human settlement, it is clear that there is still a long way to go in order to resolve all the issues related to human settlement in the country, both in cities and rural towns,” reads part of the release.

The lawmakers will also assess how the country’s cities are doing in terms of eradicating slums, as well as how settlements are being done in line with master plans for both the City of Kigali and the country’s satellite cities of Huye, Muhanga, Musanze, Nyagatare, Rubavu and Rusizi.

In line with assessing how the country’s policy of collective settlements (imidugudu) in rural areas is being implemented, the lawmakers will look at how basic infrastructure such as water, electricity, schools, and health centres have been provided to the people living in such.

Rwanda’s Vision 2020 targets urbanisation rate to increase from 17 per cent of the population in 2012 to 35 per cent by the year 2020. By then, the urban population will increase from the current 1.7 million to 4.4 million, which is an increase of about 2.7 million people living in urban areas.