People whose land will, in due course, be legally encroached on by government or private road constructors should not worry as a new bill regulating the country’s road network stipulates that expanding a road can only happen after the compensation of all who are affected.

The lower chamber, on Wednesday, scrutinized and paved the way for the draft law which is bound to set new boundaries for the road reserve.

Shortly after lawmakers approved the bill, the Minister of State in charge of transport, Dr. Alexis Nzahabwanimana, said that it was "very important because it will clearly regulate how the road is defined and how a road can be built and how to interact with the affected population while we are constructing a road.”

Unlike the decree law of 1974 which set limits of major roads at 15 meters in width, when the new law is promulgated, the road reserve on which national roads, district and Kigali city roads, run, shall be delimited by two parallel lines at 22 meters on each side of the centre line of the road.

Article 17 stipulates that roads in the national network which "do not have the width determined for their respective class, at the coming into force of this Act, shall be progressively corrected to have them acquire the respective width, where circumstances so allow.”

"When the law comes into force, it will set new boundaries for the road reserve. Some buildings which were not in the road reserve may come into the road reserve, and what has been said is that some of them may need to be removed because in the road reserve there should be no other construction other than those authorized by the law,” the minister said:

Dr. Nzahabwanimana explained that in some areas, especially in the city, or other densely populated areas, it may be logical not to expropriate people

"It means that it is not that if your house entered into the road reserve, it will necessarily be destroyed. It will depend on what is the cost and what is the capacity of the government to expropriate those people.

So, all these things will be taken into account to see what can be done – either expropriate, or let them be..”

The Deputy Speaker, Dr. Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo, told The Sunday Times that considering the country’s current pace of development, the law will solve many problems – be it in ongoing housing constructions, environment protection, and village settlement plans.

Dr. Ntawukuliryayo said that the bill also comes to protect the safety of road users and their property and that it will not only sort out expropriation issues but also deter people from encroaching on the road boundary.

"Of course the bill also protects the people. It is not a bill that only facilitates government, but its biggest importance relates to the current fast pace of development.

There will be proper planning of construction, environment protection, and there is also making sure that people also respect the set boundaries of roads,” he said.

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