Kigali City Council (KCC) on Friday unveiled its Conceptual Master Plan at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

During the ceremony, it was revealed that the plan will cover a period of 50 years.

The architectural design which cost $1.9 billion marks the beginning of a systematic construction trend to upgrade Kigali into a metropolitan city.

Liliane Uwanziga, the Director in charge of land use and management at KCC, said that the council had embarked on a conceptual plan to develop an urban growth strategy that will guide the growth and development of Kigali City in a manner that makes the best use of available land and infrastructure.

The master plan focuses on a 730sq km of KCC that includes a decentralised growth strategy with six proposed urban centres of Kicukiro, Nyarugenge and Gasabo Districts.

Uwanziga explained that the master plan encompasses ecology, environmental sustainability, equity and basic needs.

She noted that the conceptual plan puts into consideration the low income earners and the growing urban population.

"In 1962, there were only 6,000 dwellers in the city but today, they are one million and it is projected to reach three million by 2028. We have put this into consideration,” she explained.

Uwanziga also said that they are building low cost houses as an option to expensive housing for low income earners.

The plan, designed by Oz architecture, an American company and Savannah group based in Singapore, also includes a multi-modal transportation system that will be constructed in advance to prevent automobile and pedestrian congestion with the predicted boom of commercial development in the city.

Uwiganza explained that there will also be a gradual reorganisation of communities with the use of a ‘Community Centre Concept’.

"People will be living in clusters and will be within reach of health centres, shopping areas and other needs,” she highlighted.

Jeane Gakuba, the Vice Mayor, said that to set off the implementation of the Master Plan, KCC will borrow an estimated municipal bond of Frw120 billion from the capital market.

"But we also expect facilitation from multilateral donors such as the World Bank, European Union and African Development Bank,” she said.

She also revealed that China will soon fund the construction of 33 kilometres of tarmac roads in the city; the African Development Bank will fund 65 granite paved roads next year; while in 2011, the Arab Development Bank will also fund 217 kilometres of tarmac roads.

However, there were queries raised from the audience questioning the readiness of Rwandans to relocate amidst pending infrastructural developments.

Responding to their queries, Gakuba said that there is ongoing sensitisation at various levels of leadership and that individual interests could not be put before national ones.

Gakuba appealed to residents to embrace and be directly involved in the next phase that she termed a "journey of implementation.”

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