The World Bank has ranked Kigali among the six top cities in the world that demonstrate global competitiveness.

The ranking, contained in a report that sought to examine the key dimensions of globally competitive cities, saw the Bank put together a collection of detailed economic data for 750 cities in the world, which it used to distill the factors that drive economic competitiveness.

Kigali was ranked alongside Bucaramanga in Colombia, Coimbatore in India, Changsha in China, Gaziantep in Turkey, and Tangier in Morocco.

A common characteristic among the six cities, the report highlighted, was the prioritisation of the provision of basic enabling infrastructure and services needed to attract and retain investment and promote business start-ups and growth.

The recently released report defines a competitive city as one that successfully facilitates its firms and industries to grow jobs, raises productivity and increases incomes of citizens.

It classifies improvement of competitiveness of cities as a pathway to eradicate poverty and increase shared prosperity.

The report’s authors noted that Kigali’s competitiveness was spurred by institutions and regulations such as the upgraded one-stop shop which targeted obstacles faced by foreign investors while leveraging a well-designed and well-marketed master plan to attract investors.

"City leaders created Kigali Investors’ Forum to collaborate with government to identify specific reforms. They diagnosed constraints with a Doing Business assessment (through the World Bank) and highlighted inefficiency and lack of interagency coordination on construction permits as constraints,” the report reads in part.

Cutting red tape

To address the challenges identified, the report says the City of Kigali established a one-stop shop in 2010 that brought together all agencies needed to approve construction permits.

In 2011, the City also created an electronic platform for construction permits with support from the International Finance Corporation and African Development Bank to further cut red tape in seeking the service.

As a result, the authors noted, the approval processes of permits have been streamlined and permits are issued in not more than 30 days.

"Investors now handle all approval needs in one place and receive a construction permit within 30 days. The city is now ranked 34th worldwide in dealing with construction permits, according to Doing Business surveys,” the report says.

From Rwanda’s mode of intervention and results, the World Bank report said among the lessons other cities can learn is that business climate reforms can be achieved by targeting constraints that affect the private sector through working closely with government.

Noting that Rwanda emerged from a genocide to inspire an impressive economic ‘rebirth’, the report noted that the success amid adversity and experiences can be used by cities to pick up some lessons on pathways to success.

Speaking at yesterday’s National Dialogue  (Umushyikirano), Foreign Affairs minister Louise Mushikiwabo said Rwanda had been recognised for making strides in growing incomes of its residents.