Kigali City Council (KCC) yesterday officially unveiled the Nyarugenge District Master Plan which consists of the revitalised Central Business District (CBD), a vibrant commercial part of Kigali.

The Master Plan which shows the architectural design of Nyarugenge district under the main Kigali City Master Plan was unveiled by SCE Surbana, a Singaporean architectural consultancy firm hired by the city.

The design unveiled at Nyarugenge District headquarters highlights the planned construction and environmental, land use, infrastructural, cultural, and socioeconomic factors, as well as economic and demographic projections on the 135 square kilometres of the district.

The Master Plan with designs, strategies and actions will guide Kigali planners and investors towards a well planned city as envisioned in the Vision 2020. 

KCC Vice Mayor in charge of economic affairs, Alphonse Nizeyimana, said that the plan with proposed high-rise commercial buildings, 8-storey housing blocks and state-of-the-art infrastructure will be jointly implemented by both the private sector and government.

Two of the sectors, Muhima and Nyarugenge will be home to the Commercial Business District currently already under implementation and covers about 635 hectares of land.

The area stretches from SOPETRAD to Nyabugogo Taxi Park, covering lower Kiyovu and will be consisting of high rise commercial buildings within the range of 12 to 15 storeys.

He dispelled fears that land owners who won’t be able to fulfil the requirements of the plan will have their land grabbed and given to those who can afford.

"We won’t grab peoples land. The Master Plan is designed in a way that those who will not want to be part of the commercial district will be expropriated properly and allocated equally good pieces of land where they can settle.”

He further revealed that government is fast tracking the condominium law that will facilitate landowners who cannot afford to implement the planned development to work with investors and have an equal share of the established property equivalent to their land.

"This law will ensure that for example if one has a piece of land which is given to an investor to construct a 6-story building, the land owner will take 3 of the storeys and have a title for them,” he explained to the gathering.

The Nyarugenge District Master Plan is part of the Mainstream Kigali Conceptual Master Plan drawn by a US-based company, OZ International.

The other districts; Kicukiro and Gasabo, are also set to unveil their respective Master Plans.

Gasabo will unveil the residential township in Kinyinya while Kicukiro will also unveil the planned Hotel area at Mount Rebero and the residential area in Masaka.

KCC spent about $3m on the development of the Master Plan. 

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