Construction of Kigali Art Wall set for this year after long delay

Kigali City plans to build an art wall on the main road from SOPETRAD to downtown Kigali before the end of this year after a thirteen-month delay due to other plans to expand the road, city officials have revealed. The city’s administration launched the construction of the wall which would cost about Rwf 154 millions in November 2007 during the time Kigali City was celebrating its centenary. Kigali City Council (KCC) will cooperate with private investors to turn what is a soil fracture today abreast the SOPETRAD road in Kanogo area into both an anti-erosion wall and a place where Rwanda cultural artifacts will be displayed. “There are plans by the central government to expand the road from SOPETRAD up to town. There is no way they [Kigali City] can build the art wall on the current road,” said Bruno Rangira, the Director of Media and Communication at KCC. He said that works to build the promised art wall will only be possible when the road on which it is to be developed is expanded. The information has emerged following ambiguity on what could have happened to the project following its launching when the city was commemorating its 100 years of existence. “I don’t know why they delayed to build the wall until the designs they had put here were blown away by the wind,” said Aline Uwingabire, a pump attendant at Total petrol station in Kanogo who was present when the art wall was being launched. “I think it was a good way to decorate the city in line with the country’s Vision 2020 because Kigali visitors would go back home with a good image of Rwanda,” she added. The wall’s design that was unveiled in 2007 suggests that it was going to be seven meters high and decorated with pictures that reflect the Rwandan traditional culture. At the launch of the project, the deputy mayor of Kigali in charge of Economic Affairs, Dieudonné Rumaragishyika, told journalists that the intention of the structure was to create a sign of remembrance for all the people who visit Kigali. Rumaragishyika had then explained that the wall could also be an investment that would generate money in the future as it would provide payable space for advertising. BRALIRWA, a local soft and alcohol brewery company, had accepted to pay the money that would be used in the project but KCC officials had opened doors for other business operators to contribute in building the wall and in turn get advertising space. Ends

National

Construction of Kigali Art Wall set for this year after long delay