WESTERN PROVINCE RUBAVU — The recent order by the district authority to demolish and rebuild old houses in Gisenyi town, Rubavu district, has stalled a cross section of businesses. Traders in shops that are lined up for demolition have vacated town. Some have taken their merchandise to their respective homes living business at standstill. The district earmarked over 30 houses on Gisenyi main streets for possible demolition in case owners fail to rehabilitate them. Traders who talked to The New Times complained that the district had not allocated them another place to work from during the renovations. “We know it’s important to modernise our town but the district authority should have given us another alternative as we wait for the landlords to do their work. They should have identified a temporary market place or given us temporary stalls in Gisenyi main market,” said Abdul Murekezi, one of the affected traders.However, the district Mayor, Celestin Twagirayezu, dismissed the complaints as baseless. “The town contained very many old and shanty houses which gave a bad picture to the town. We gave landlords enough time, helped them meet banks that promised to give them loans and the deadline is over now,” he said. He stressed that Gisenyi like other towns in the country had set developmental goals which must be achieved. “There should not be excuses because we have a list of banks that are willing to give loans to land lords to facilitate them build new and modern houses. We are not asking them to construct big mansions because most of them have no financial capabilities,” he said. “We need simple but modern houses fit in our new town plan.” He pointed out that the occupants of the affected houses have already vacated them. “We are now waiting for their owner’s action,” he said. Asked whether the district would help traders find alternative locations for their trade, the mayor said that the district was yet to find a solution. “I know their business will be affected for a few weeks but they will be happy to work from good places as soon as the rehabilitation is over,” he argued. Eugene Mungarakarama, a land lord however, said that the renovation will take long since attaining loans from most banks has not been easy for them. “It is the first time for most of us to seek big loans from banks and the process is almost impossible because the banks need many requirements. Besides, some of our houses and plots have less value than the money we need from the banks to build modern houses as required by the district authority,” he said. Meanwhile, the development has forced land lords of the few remaining decent houses to hike rent because of very high demand. Ends
