The Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) is set to start a countrywide inspection of construction sites to ensure they meet the required standards. 

The one-month tour is part of the activities to mark the World Standards Day, celebrated on October 14.  

This year’s celebration was marked under the theme, "Standards to Ensure Positive Change and Safe Infrastructure.”

"In respect to this day, we are dedicating energy to ensuring that the country has safe and durable infrastructure that  meets international standards,” said Dr Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, the RBS director-general while addressing a news briefing in Kigali on Tuesday.

Raising awareness

Dr Cyubahiro said the tour also aims at raising awareness among local contractors on how standards ensure safe infrastructure. 

"Our ultimate principle is to have infrastructure that measures up, and this is why we are determined  to root out establishments that use substandard  or wrong construction materials,” Dr Cyubahiro said.

Regis Munyentwari, the director of infrastructure in the City of Kigali, said any construction works found not to abide by existing national construction laws will be halted.

"Our intention is to find out whether the structures being erected meet our standards before giving them a go ahead,” Munyentwari said.  

The inspection exercise is expected to cover the City of Kigali and all the four provinces in the country. 

In April, one person died and seven others were injured when Petit Meridien, a storey structure under construction opposite Hotel Umubano in Kacyiru, Kigali, collapsed.