Following the plan to upgrade it to a secondary city, Kirehe District looks to tap into its potentials including being a logistical hub, a major food producer and a tourist attraction to turn fortunes of its citizens.

This observation was made by Bruno Rangira, the district mayor as the district officials were concluding a five-day study tour in different cities on how to ensure better planning for a secondary city.  

The district officials including its executive committee, headed by Rangira, visited Musanze as one of the secondary cities in the first phase, and later the City of Kigali.

Kirehe is one of the three new secondary cities (Karongi, Kayonza and Kirehe) to be developed in the second phase, according to the 2020-2050 National Land Use and Development Master Plan of July 2020.

Bruno Rangira, the Mayor of Kirehe.

On Kirehe being a logistics hub, Rangira said that it is a district that is near the border with Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam. As such, he said, there are many goods that pass there, including the imported and exported ones.

"Kirehe is a gateway of imported and exported goods. So, we have a potential to be a logistics hub, especially in that the imported goods can be stored [in bonded warehouses] near the border and the small and medium-sized businesspeople can get them from there easily,” he said.

"Also, the businesspeople who want to export goods can prepare them from our district before they are taken to the Dar es Salaam port [a major port of Tanzania],” he observed, adding that there is a need to develop a dry port near the Rusumo border.  

Under the first phase, the Government of Rwanda announced the creation of six secondary cities – Rubavu, Musanze, Huye, Rusizi, Nyagatare, and Muhanga – through the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2 which covered 2013-2018 period).  

The goal of this move was to ensure a more balanced urban growth for the country by encouraging the emergence of secondary economic poles of growth, while keeping the leading role of Kigali.  

But the 2020-2050 master plan made a change, indicating that the development of secondary cities would be in two phases according to available capacities – five (Musanze, Rubavu, Rusizi, Nyagatare and Huye) in the first and three (Karongi, Kayonza and Kirehe) in the second phase.

Rangira said that Kirehe will start planning as a secondary city in the fiscal year 2022-2023 – which will begin in July next year.

On Kirehe being a breadbasket for the country, Rangira said that the district has large irrigation projects and was engaged in large-scale commercial farming.

"We have about 15,000 hectares with irrigation infrastructure for the cultivation of various crops including maize, soya and French beans such that we have the potential for agro-processing,” he said, adding that the district is a major banana producer.

"We are going to be the country’s breadbasket in terms of food supply, but we are also looking for ways we can add value to those varied crop produce such as through developing the agro-processing industry,” he said.

Another activity for consideration in the district’s plans is to develop tourism.

"We have many tourist destinations including lakes, Akagera Valley, and Nyarubuye Plateau [near Nasho Lake] such that we are currently working with RDB (Rwanda Development Board) so that it advises us on how we can develop this area,” he said.

Responding to residents’ needs

While some Kirehe residents were relocating to Kigali in search of jobs and services, Rangira said that they want to effectively respond to that.

"People need more services such as schools for children, health facilities, recreational facilities, shopping places, among others. Through partnership with the private sector, we want to ensure that such services are available and accessible to the people,” he said, adding that housing needs will also be catered for.

City of Kigali Mayor, Pudence Rubingisa said that the City works with secondary cities regarding proper planning to ensure that the national budget is put to good use to achieve better results through the development of different parts of the country.

"It has been realised that secondary cities help speed up the country’s development than having one area [City of Kigali] with concentration of different projects such for infrastructure, economy, and health care,” observing that it is not necessary that all people come to Kigali for medical services.

Meanwhile, Rangira said that the above-mentioned study tour intended to make the district inspired and challenged by learning from others including in areas such as urban planning, how they managed to make the current progress, among others.

Meanwhile, he said that they also considered how waste management in the city can be effective and cheaper to the population.