WESTERN PROVINCE

RUBAVU — The reconstruction of the Ruhengeri-Gisenyi road has now reached Gisenyi town. The work which will also involve upgrading all Gisenyi town streets as promised by President Paul Kagame, during his recent visit to the area is seen by residents as a step towards the development of Rubavu district and Gisenyi town in particular.

"We have been waiting for this for a very long time. The town has had poor roads full of volcanic rocks locally known as amakoro for many years. We are optimistic that the new roads will give the town a facelift,” said Innocent Habimana, one of the businessmen in the area.

"The volcanic stones destroyed our cars and motorcycle wheels. We hope with the new road wheels will last longer and reduce expenditures,” he said. According to the Gisenyi Sector coordinator, Gideon Ruboneza, the rehabilitated streets will improve cleanliness in the town.

"Gisenyi in the past looked dirty because it was hard to pick litter from the volcanic stones, the new roads will be easy to keep clean and we hope the tourist town will be one of the cleanest towns in the country,” he said.

Ruboneka, noted that authorities were already working on the new town plan of having modern buildings to replace poorly constructed and very old buildings.

The new housing plan and good road network, he said, will lead to the development of the tourist town and the quick achievement of the Vision 2020 goals. According to Charles Mungarakarama, one of the motorists in Gisenyi, the new road network will ease their work.

"We have been having misunderstandings with our bosses…over their assets, volcanic rocks all over the town streets would destroy their cars and the nature of the roads would force us to charge passengers more money even when the distance covered is not that long,” he said.

He commended the government for the effort to develop infrastructure such as roads, which he said are important for transportation of people and goods.

"We are glad the road has reached the town gates and we are looking forward to receiving other services which were promised by his Excellence [Paul] Kagame during his recent visit…things such as the television signals that we badly need to follow up various activities in the capital Kigali and news taking place in the other parts of the country,” said Mungarakarama. 

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