Leaders of Kigali City Council (KCC) yesterday grilled local leaders after touring some of the areas that are inhabited contrary to established construction standards in Gasabo and Kicukiro Districts.

According to City officials, the inspection team which was led by Mayor Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, and members of the city’s Executive Committee, visited Ruhango cell near Kigali Independent University (ULK) in Gisozi Sector of Gasabo District and Nyanza cell in Kicukiro District.

"The houses in the areas are built in a way that can lead to a lack of hygiene,” said the city’s Director of Inspection, Reuben Ahimbisibwe, shortly after the tour.

He said that Kigali City has a Master Plan that can only be implemented if Rwandans living in the town change the mentality of violating laws while constructing shelter and also urged leaders to be vigilant.

"Those who build the houses contrary to the procedures know that they are breaking laws but keep doing so because they have never internalized respecting the laws. We need to keep reminding them,” he said.

A survey conducted about four years ago revealed that 70 per cent of the houses in Kigali City were constructed in violation of construction standards.

Ahimbisibwe said that KCC intends to come up with physical plans of the town’s areas and in the process, will be able to allocate several plots of land to investors before the end of this year.

According to a witness who talked to The New Times as he commented on poor construction practices in the areas visited by the city’s officials yesterday, most people were found to have successfully put up real estates in contravention of procedure after bribing local officials.

"Some leaders on the grassroots level accepted inducements to allow people build their houses in violation of the law,” the source said after the tour.

The city’s inspection team held meetings with local leaders after touring the poorly built areas and asked them to prepare reports on the situation and hand them to the KCC administration in a week’s time, Ahimbisibwe disclosed.

The Rwandan cabinet approved Kigali City Master Plan last year to serve as a roadmap for the development of the city in the next 50 years and bring informal settlements in the town to a halt.

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