It was shocking to read in Focus Newspaper that Kigali city had defaulted on 10 million Euro payment to German investors. This article was full of falsehoods and it was only aimed at tarnishing the image of Kigali city.

The media code of ethics requires that all reporting be based on facts; we take this opportunity to provide these facts for clarification; African Development Corporation (ADC) in an effort to support Kigali City in its endeavor to provide affordable housing for its people; accepted to provide a loan on a low interest rate for the acquisition of land for this purpose.

The ADC granted the City a RWF 741,958,772 for the acquisition of land amounting to 39 ha. This initiative followed a grant awarded to the City by the World Bank under PIGU for the development of infrastructure.

The initial terms of payment were scheduled to start in November 2008, however following discussions with ADC an extension was granted to February 2009.

It is on that note, therefore, that we highlight that no default has occurred as the first payment is due with the end of February 2009.

Throughout the development of this project there has been continued partnership with the ADC.

We wish to make clear that 70% of works on site have been completed, inclusive of which are expropriation of 39 ha acquired, physical planning of the site, road and drainage construction.

The City is now processing the sale of land to individuals and developers seeking to establish affordable housing. We place emphasis on the uniqueness of this project which defined the need to retain the existing residents within the new proposed plans hence a continued existence of the character of the community that already resides there.

In the editorial where it was implied that the City has indefinitely put to a halt all construction, we seek to shed light on the actual situation on ground-following the collapse of a storied building in Remera, it became quite evident that stricter measures would have to be taken to ensure that buildings coming up are indeed abiding to demanded standards and that professionals supervising these constructions are qualified to do so.

A 7 member technical committee (KIGALI CITY, 3 DISTRICTS, MININFRA, PSF and RBS) was set up to start a review of all public and storied buildings, future sites for development of physical plans.

This committee has successfully started to review projects and technically advise the both the Districts and Client on suitable adjustments to their schemes to allow for reintegration into the future Master Plan.

We wish to reiterate that this Master Plan is here to provide us with guidelines to ensure sustainable development, a guaranteed security of land and all investment on it while guaranteeing that the growing population will all equally benefit from our limited natural resources.

This can only be provided through proper planning. 
Kigali city has therefore not stopped all construction activities. We are following construction standards for the safety and security of the population of Kigali city.

RANGIRA Bruno
Director of Media and Communications
Kigali City Council