The expropriation of Nyarugenge District headquarters to give way to a multi-billion five star hotel under construction has been put on hold until the first phase of the hotel is complete.

This was announced yesterday by Jean Berchmans Kamari, Nyarugenge vice mayor in charge of finance and economic development.

"We hope to resume the expropriation deal with the hotel developers, New Century Development Ltd, in the next two years,” Kamari said.

Yong Feng Guo, Chairman of New Century Development Ltd, said last July that the hotel would be complete within 18 months.

The Nyarugenge site together with the former Rwanda Television premises had previously been scheduled to be acquired by the hotel to create enough parking yard and construct other hotel facilities, but only the latter was expropriated.

The land was previously valued at about Rwf 1.5 billion but Kamari noted that the costs are likely to increase since the value of land, especially in Kigali city, increase from time to time.

He added that when the expropriation deal is reached, the district will either relocate to other government premises within Nyarugenge or buy their own facility.

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