GASABO - Following public outcry, the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) has announced a long term project that will effectively contain the waste water in Kigali City.

The project kicked off by issuing a directive to have water waste treatment plants on all commercial and public institutions like schools, hotels and hospitals around the city.

Though most of the establishments currently under construction have complied with the regulations, there is much more to do with those already in existence, but there is hope, according to REMA.

Dr Rose Mukankomeje the Director General of REMA says that this will add to the already existing strategies put in place to combat poor environmental health while conserving resources of water and controlling pollution of land and air.

She lamented that the setbacks are as a result of the country’s topography and the original plan of Kigali city.

"Originally the city was expected to accommodate between 200,000 and 250,000 people but over the years the population has grown to over one million people,” Mukankomeje told The New Times at her Kacyiru offices yesterday.

She said that the inability to control the growing population has prompted the evacuation of people living in the Gikondo wetland which will eventually be used to collect and harbour the waste water for natural filtration.

Mukankomeje highlighted the recently adopted method of collecting and channelling waste products into a lagoon which was set up in Gacuriro estates in Kigali and condemned people who frustrate such efforts.

"We should all respect a leadership that relies on good policies and works to implement them,” she said.

REMA has finalised training bankers who offer housing loans and warned them to hold back if applicants lack certificates of clearance from the authority.

Effective waste management strategies assist in minimising and avoiding adverse impacts on the environment and human health, while allowing economic development and improvement in the quality of life.

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