A newly built model village in Kinigi Sector of Musanze District on Tuesday, June 29 started housing over 140 families who have been living in informal settlements.

The beneficiaries are residents of Kampanga and Nyonirima cells of Kinigi. The Integrated Development Program (IDP) model village will be one of the celebrations marking the 27th anniversary of the Liberation, according to officials.

It is made of six three-storey blocks, with 24 homes each. A home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room, with a ready furniture and a television set.

"My house was poorly built with wood. But this one is built with bricks and has everything from water supply to furniture. It will be my retirement home," Samuel Bimenyimana, a 62-year-old public servant, told The New Times on Tuesday, after getting the keys for his new house.

For Guadance Mukamugema, a resident of Kampanga, the authorities made the right decision of resettling her family.

"When they explained to us about the resettlement, we could hardly envision these beautiful houses. There is a significant difference between my previous home and this new one," she said.

A typical model village has necessary facilities such as a market, a crafts production centre (better known as agakiriro), a farm for cattle and chicken, a school, a health post and an early childhood development (ECD) centre.

According to district authorities, building the Kinigi model village cost a budget of Rwf20 billion, including renovating a local health centre and a secondary school.

"The village for 144 households was built in order to ensure formal settlement for people living informally; here, they have access to basic needs," Jeannine Nuwumuremyi, the Mayor of Musanze District, said in an interview with The New Times on Tuesday.

She added that those resettled will continue to exploit their properties, with the help and guidance of the government.

Musanze District has one of Rwanda's six secondary cities and Kinigi is a tourism hotspot, with attractions such as mountain gorillas, the Volcanoes National Park and a number of high-end hotel investments.

With all the development activities in this district, the people's living standards have to get boosted, Nuwumuremyi said.

More than 215 IDP model villages have been built in Rwanda, since the program's establishment in 2010.