Kigali City Council on Friday, unveiled the first draft of the proposed city master plan. The master plan was presented at Nyarugenge district hall by the city council working together with the Singaporean urban planning company SNE Surbana.

This is part of a grand project to transform Kigali into a well and properly planned city. Also in recent days, the city authorities have embarked on an ambitious project to construct well planned housing units around town.

In the process, some people have been relocated after compensation. Though the whole project is well intentioned and aimed at modernising the city, some people are obviously not so happy with it. Some may find the whole process inconveniencing.

But beyond that, there is a general consensus that the city has to be properly planned to world standards. Thus some measures that may be seen as so radical are absolutely necessary.

To this end therefore, as the city goes into the next phase of its master plan, some residents of the city will have to realise that in the interest of the common good, they may have to sacrifice here and there. But this is not in vain since in the first place, there is always commensurate compesation.

It will also be recalled that many projects that have been undertaken by the city authorities have led to positive results. The deliberate efforts to beautify Kigali city have already paid off.

Many visitors to Kigali testify to the beauty and general cleanliness of the city in comparison to other cities in Africa. With this in mind, let every one welcome the city master plan and the city councils efforts to modernize our capital city.

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