Kigali has all the basics, the ball is now in investors’ court

Editor,Refer to Paul Ntambara’s article, “Of Kigali’s nightlife, food and roadside benches” (The New Times, December 14).The author touched on the crux of Kigali’s shortcomings as a modern city: a very limited choice of social amenities for varying tastes beyond the beer-quaffing and nyama-choma that seems to be Kigalians’ favourite pastime. Except for the dearth of neighbourhood parks and with benches for visitors to relax and just commune with their surroundings or their companions, the city now has much of the needed infrastructure in place for the private sector entrepreneurs to do theirs.If Rwandan businesspeople are incapable of recognising and taking advantage of the unmet entertainment needs of an increasingly cosmopolitan Kigali population, maybe it is high time we actively encouraged entrepreneurs from neighbouring countries to come in and show our unenterprising locals how such a lucrative market is exploited.There is just one point in this article on which I beg to differ with Mr. Ntambara: his highlighting of one reader’s proposal that the city authorities invest in a zoo.First, because many views were expressed against the idea that caging animals would add value to Kigali as a tourist destination; second, because even if that were true, such an ‘investment’ shouldn’t come out of public coffers but be a private for-profit initiative.Mwene Kalinda, Kigali*****************I’m at odds to reconcile the Kigali he is describing with the Kigali where I live. There are no “malls”, few decent cafes dot the city, and as for the hotspots, they are rather “lukewarm” spots at best given the intermittent Internet connection.Let’s not delude ourselves: Kigali is still work in progress – we will get there but for now, let’s be realistic and acknowledge the challenges, rather than depict a rosy and unreal situation.Abu Bakr, Kigali

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Kigali has all the basics, the ball is now in investors’ court