The City of Kigali has announced plans to construct new flyovers and four-lane roads so as to ease congestion across the capital.
A flyover is a bridge or road that carries a road over another, while a four-lane road is a highway with two lanes for traffic in each direction.
These construction plans were unveiled, on Thursday July 7, while responding to the Senate’s Standing Committee on Economic Development and Finance queries over congestion in the city.
Senator Faustin Habineza urged the City of Kigali to address congestion in areas of Nyabugogo bus terminal to Giti Cy’Inyoni towards Nyabarongo river area, from Remera to Kabuga as well as Nyabugogo -Kinamba road.
"We have been experiencing congestion in the city and we want to hear from Kigali that they are planning to address the issue. Flyovers are needed in many places,” he said.
Emmanuel Asaba Katabarwa, The City Engineer, outlined the new plans for construction, noting that due to budget constraints however, they will have to start with priorities.
"There is a big issue of vehicle congestion especially in road junctions. We have identified 43 junctions where it is not easy to move from one road to another. We have to expand the junctions and construct flyovers. But as we face budget constraints, we start with priorities,” he said.
He cited plans to construct flyovers in Giporoso-Prince House to Kabuga, because there is a project to expand big roads with four lanes that enter into Kigali city.
"One example is that of Gahanga-Sonatube. We will expand Nyabarongo-Kanogo road with four lanes and studies have started,” he said.
Authorities in the City of Kigali have disclosed that the road from the City Centre to Kigali International Airport will soon be used to pilot the bus rapid transit (BRT) system as a way of reducing traffic congestion.
Nyabugogo Bus Terminal is also set to be extended, because as roads are expanded, public transport buses increase.
Up to 58 road projects are set to be implemented in the neighbourhoods of Kigali City before 2024, according to the City Council.
The capital will have a length of 215.6 kilometres of roads constructed or upgraded in six phases by 2024.
Under phase one, some 33.7 km will be added to the current road network.
Construction works shall involve asphalt and cobblestone road construction, rehabilitation of roads across the capital, upgrading from two to four lanes, repairing and renovating them, among other activities.
The first construction phase has 10 road projects, while the second one has 13. The third one has 14 road projects; the fourth has only 6 as the fifth and sixth have 10 and 5 road projects respectively.
Due to the nature of the construction process, 2009 households will be relocated to pave way for construction activities.