KIGALI - The president of Commuter Taxis Association (ATRACO), Ludovic Twahirwa Dodo, has said shortage of funds has hampered the activities to refurbish Nyabugogo Taxi Park, works that were supposed to be completed last month.

In a phone interview yesterday, Dodo said; "we have been facing a problem of raising money needed to meet the deadline, but we are trying our best to complete the works by January next year.”

He further attributed the delays in the works to the refurbishment of the drainage system that had been blocked. According to Atraco, the whole renovation project will cost Rwf450m.

With the ongoing rehabilitation, the taxi park was divided into two sections with the works going on one side and the other one serving the many taxis and buses moving to various parts of the country and others ferrying people in and out of the country.

However, according to some of the traders in the park who spoke to The New Times, the rehabilitation works which have lasted for six months, have affected their businesses.

Jean Bosco Habimana, who operates a shop in the park, said that like the drivers and passengers, his business has also been affected by the renovation that he says is taking way too long.

"Our customers no longer come in large numbers as before because they can’t easily find us due to the state of the park, customers are in most cases kept outside the park,” said Habimana.

He added: "we were told that these activities will only take five months, the delay has cost us a lot.”

The drivers also claim to be counting losses.

Pierre Murenzi, one of the drivers, said despite the slow business caused by the renovation works, they are still paying the same parking fees, even with many of them obliged to park outside the terminal.

"The problem is that the passengers are scattered everywhere, they don’t know where to get the taxis and this is really affecting our daily operations,” he said.

Nyabugogo Park is mostly used by commuters travelling outside Kigali. It is also the main parking for buses commuting to neighboring countries.

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