Editor,

RE: "Fingers crossed, the car-free zone will not become a new Kigali dead-zone” (The New Times, August 26).

Sincerely speaking as someone who experienced different important pedestrian streets in different countries, I have to confess they are a 100 times far better than vehicular streets—economically, socially, environmentally, culturally and creatively.

However, I keep telling this to everyone especially those complaining about the initiative, our new pedestrian street—in terms of appropriate streetscape design and urban design—is at 1 per cent level of accomplishment, thus you should not immediately start to be pessimistic about a street that has not yet been.

Wait till the City Council designs and makes the streetscape of this area as a real public space not a road with a design designated for cars. Hold on a while please.

But on the other hand, the City of Kigali should expedite these changes of the streetscape or public space design of our great new pioneering area where the city priority is people, not cars.

Kayeye

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There are good arguments in this article; I also do believe that the City of Kigali should have given a little more time to implement this car-free zone because it seems to have been hurriedly done.

Your suggestions to make them lively places need to be seriously thought through. Shades can be set up for people to sit—especially the elderly and children; free Wi-Fi is good to attract people there.

I believe everything should be done to avoid those areas becoming ghost streets with no life, after all this must have been the rationale behind making it a pedestrian-only area.

Shema