KBC roundabout partially reopened to traffic

KBC roundabout in Kimihurura on Tuesday morning opened to traffic, a month after the roads connecting to the area had been closed off in what was initially attributed to the fact that the nearby Kigali Convention Centre was at the time the venue for the 27th African Union Summit.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016
(Photo: Teddy Kamanzi / The New Times)

KBC roundabout in Kimihurura on Tuesday morning opened to traffic, a month after the roads connecting to the area had been closed off in what was initially attributed to the fact that the nearby Kigali Convention Centre was at the time the venue for the 27th African Union Summit.

Motorists from the Central Business District and Kimihurura/Kabindi area on the one hand, and those from Kacyiru or MINIJUST directions, on the other, can now access the KBC roundabout, albeit only one section of the roundabout. 

(Photo: Teddy Kamanzi / The New Times)

Earlier this month the City of Kigali announced that works were ongoing to directly link the two roads to allow motorists coming from or heading to Kacyiru or any other direction through the Ninzi Hotel roundabout to avoid going around the KCB roundabout – as was the case previously – as the part of the roundabout closest to the Radisson Blu Hotel and Convention Centre, Kigali will remain inaccessible to motorists. 

The works on the section of the roundabout furthest from Kigali Convention Centre have turned it into a two-way road with bus stops on either side, one near the soon-to-be-completed Kigali Heights complex and the other near the under-renovation KBC building.

Parfait Busabizwa, the vice mayor in charge of economic development in the City of Kigali, said traffic lights will soon be installed in the area.

(Photo: Teddy Kamanzi / The New Times)

However, the road connecting to the KBC roundabout from the MINIJUST area will remain closed to traffic, with motorists from that direction only able to access the roundabout through the new road that connects through the new roundabout near Ninzi Hotel.

Meanwhile, the barricades that had been mounted at the newly created Ninzi Hotel roundabout have been removed to allow for unrestricted traffic flow.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw