The City of Kigali is set to use satellite-enabled technology to monitor construction with a view of identifying illegal practices including false construction permits,” according to Mayor Samuel Dusengiyumva.

Dusengiyumva told Members of Parliament of the Committee on Land, Agriculture, Livestock and Environment that the city is set to announce the new technology in the coming days.

He was responding to land use and management queries as the MPs were assessing the enforcement of the 2021 law governing land in Rwanda.

The City of Kigali, he said, will use the technology in partnership with the Rwanda Space Agency, "such that we can know houses that have been set up every week,” and demolish them before they get completed.

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He told parliamentarians that the system was tested and found working well.

"There is the way a satellite shows us a house that is set up on each plot. We will communicate it to citizens before the end of this month,” Dusengiyumva said, adding that it will be accessible on mobile phones.

Under such technology, he said that they [its operators] have access to data on all houses in the City of Kigali, adding that it is integrated with the city’s online construction permit system and can indicate houses that are set up without genuine permits.

"As such, we can know a plot on which there was no house on this August 8, and on August 14, we can find whether a house started being put up on it,” he said, adding that they can also know whether the owner has a relevant permit.

"It has a feature to determine whether the permit is genuine or not,” he said, adding "the system cannot be corrupt,” which will help deal with graft involving some local leaders in the urban construction landscape.

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The system, he added, will also help understand the nature of land in different areas, and its management, such as exposing people who build houses in hilly areas but do not have proper water management methods, which leads to erosion.

Information from the City of Kigali suggests it needs to build 18,000 affordable houses per year in order to meet accommodation for its residents.

Rwanda as a whole needs over 2 million affordable housing units by 2050, under the country’s 30 year-vision which started in 2020, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure.

In order to overcome urban sprawl, urbanisation will largely have to take place in existing settlements which will be upgraded to high-density settlements, as per Vision 2050.