There is an urgent need to scale up Do-nou technology to repair unpaved roads that are damaged by heavy rains and occasional floods in the neighborhoods of Kigali city and other parts of the country, local leaders and dwellers have recommended.

The technology was used over the weekend during Umuganda-community work to repair different damaged roads across the country.

Do-nou is a Japanese Word that means wrapping soil in a gunny bag.

Do-nou technology involves use of gunny bags filled appropriately with murram, sand, gravel or farm soil and tied to repair impassable roads.

The local community in  neighborhoods of Kigali during community work to repair unpaved road using Do-nou  technology. Michel Nkurunziza.

According to engineers the technology makes use of locally available materials and purely labour-based technology which is easy to learn, understand and adapt among the community people.

With simple maintenance preferably after every rainy season, the road is durable, they say.

Residents of Kicukiro District where the technology was used on Saturday said that a number of roads had been damaged by floods in the community and therefore the technology can be used at the time there is no budget to tar roads.

"There was a big problem of floods damaging the neighborhood roads because they are not drained. The flooding from the roads has also been damaging people’s houses around. The vehicles were also not crossing because the damaged roads are impassable,” said Theogene Karasanyi, a resident of Kanombe sector, Kicukiro District.

He added people who need transport services  for their different business activities are facing constraints amidst the heavy rains paralyzing transport in some parts.

"We have the road which is even used by trucks but the road needs rehabilitation. As the community work returns, we hope that the technology they have used on repairing one part of the road can be scaled up,” added Josephine Nyirasafari, another resident.

Idrissa Nkurunziza, The Executive Secretary of Kanombe Sector said that there are a number of community roads that are being damaged by floods and there is need for support to maintain the damaged roads.

"Karama was previously looking like a rural area but after settlement sites were demarcated, many people are coming to live there. But the roads are impassable for vehicles especially during the rainy season. Therefore Do-nou technology is timely as an affordable and cheap technology,” he said adding that community works can lower the cost.

Yuko Chiba, a project Manager of the Community Road Empowerment organization that finances the scaling up of Do-nou technology, said that it is being used in 11 districts of the country.

"The technology uses soil put inside the bags to strengthen and upgrade the road by compacting. Since 2018 we have covered 11 districts so far. We are targeting all districts by 2024 and we are training the representatives of the road maintenance cooperatives and VUP technicians to use the technology with available local materials,” she said.

Managing Kigali city’s floods

While Do-nou technology was used to repair some flooded-damaged neighborhood roads, The City of Kigali has said it is working on a number of projects to reduce the impact of floods on roads across the city.

The City of Kigali has said that it is conducting studies on six high critical flooding spots and a storm water management master plan to mitigate floods in the long-term.

Meanwhile, the city officials said that during the forthcoming heavy rainy season, the city is implementing and mobilizing all citizens to the short-term solutions of stormwater management to reduce flooding and disasters caused by heavy rains.

The interventions, he said, include regular cleaning of roadside drainage and storm water channels, desilting at critical flooded spots as well as excavation of retention ponds to hold extra water and silts during times of flooding.

Other interventions include maintenance of ravines, planting trees and vegetations to retain soil to prevent landslide, greening alongside of roads and unprotected areas, expansion of the existing stormwater drainage structures to increase their conveyance capacity of the rainwater runoff, retaining walls, gabions walls, stone pitching to prevent land sliding among others.

Drainage rehabilitation is among the most needed interventions to curb floods in the city.

The City needs over Rwf30 Billion funding for rehabilitating and expanding several drainages that usually cause flooding in the country’s capital.

Within the last three years, only eight new standalone ravines/drainages have been constructed, Officials said.

Mpazi drainage is one of dangerous drains that was in need of widening to save Nyabugogo businesses from flood-caused losses.

Emmanuel Katabarwa, the City Engineer, On Saturday March 26, said that building a new road as part of expansion works for Mpazi drainage is starting this week to control floods it has been causing.

"There are two bridges that had to be expanded on the drainages. The works on the upper bridge will take between two and three months,” he said.

The City of Kigali has said that the increase in the cost of constructing two bridges to Rwf7 billion on Mpazi channel in order to tackle flooding in Nyabugogo commercial area resulted from the abnormally rising rainwater levels in Kigali occasioned by climate change.

Meanwhile he said more drainages are being expanded to control floods.

"We have set up flood control facilities in areas of Rwampala, Kanogo, Kinamba and others,” he said.