Last week’s heavy rains that ravaged different parts of the city have had city planners and other stakeholders having to take necessary steps to ensure that in the future, the damage is minimized. The floods that came from a heavy downpour on the evening of Christmas Day, did not just affect lowland areas like swamps and valleys, nor affect just weaker infrastructure; it also affected uptown structures. Among those that were affected is Muhima Investment Company Ltd (MIC) a new building located in downtown Kigali, where videos and photos that did rounds on social media showed water that has seeped through some of the establishments at the commercial building. “We experienced a problem with heavy rains that affected some of our clients’ shops. The water was too much that it overwhelmed our drainage channels hence the flooding of some of the shops,” said Félicien Muragijimana, the Executive Secretary of MIC. MIC is a consortium of business operators around Kigali who pooled resources to build the multi-billion commercial complex. However, according to Muragijimana, there was not so much damage to any of their tenants, saying that people were able to salvage the merchandise from the flooded shops in good time. This case alarmed several experts that there might be some housing designs behind these incidents as one that befell MIC. Architectural experts classify those risky designs in three categories: zone safety, structural stability and the skill of the people who undertake the construction works. In an interview with The New Times, the Vice Mayor of Kigali City in charge of Urbanization and Infrastructure Dr Ernest Nsabimana said that MIC was affected because it was in a sloppy zone. “If you look at MIC, its location is not so favorable. All the waters converged from the upper plazas down into its drainage channels. Naturally, they get overwhelmed,” Nsabimana said. Without going into detail of MIC’s particular case in terms of the degree of slope at which it is, the Vice Mayor said city regulations stipulates that no house should be built on a slope of above 30 degrees. The government does not authorize construction permits to houses above that measurement. Structural stability is another factor that affect buildings at large, according to Janvier Muhire, the Building Regulation Design Specialist in Rwanda Housing Authority. “Any building has to be stable in terms of its structure. The stability must be experienced in the foundation of the building and having a drainage system that is strong and able to accommodate any amount of rainfall to withstand penetration of water from the building’s environs. “The MIC’s drainage channel became too weak to accommodate water in the neighborhoods because it had become the end-user of the town’s rainwater,” he added. When The New Times arrived at MIC Building on Friday, there were machines that were still pumping water out of the building, while construction workers were seen on location undertaking minor rehabilitation works. Evelyne Mukamuhoza, who was there at the scene, told The New Times confirmed that the drainage channel was the main cause of the incident.
