Gov’t to ease property acquisition for the Diaspora

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs- Diaspora General Directorate (DGD), yesterday held a meeting with major stakeholders in the housing industry to address stumbling blocks in acquiring property in the country, for Rwandans based in the Diaspora. The meeting aimed at streamlining the process, especially within Kigali City, and take advantage of the massive demand for housing and property by Rwandans living abroad and increase their interest to invest in the country. Addressing the stakeholders, who included Kigali City authorities, real estate developers, property consultants and banks, the Director General of DGD, Robert Masozera, said that Rwandans in the Diaspora have shown interest and potential to invest and acquire property in the country, but get frustrated by the process and lack of adequate information. “They send us requests all the time, but what they lack is the facilitation to acquire housing plots or information on finished houses or who they should consult if they want to develop property.” “They also don’t know the sources of financing or even how they can transfer their money to Rwanda for financing construction of their real estate, and I think any financial institution can tap into such an opportunity,” Masozera said. During the meeting, stakeholders developed a framework that will facilitate and make it easy for the Diaspora to acquire land and housing without any problems while financial institutions also agreed to provide ‘special mortgage products’ that will encourage them to acquire property back home. Kigali City Council officials noted that before coming up with any policies, there is a need for commitment from both sides; because at times the Diaspora have taken advantage of the offer to acquire land which they later fail to develop. Vice Mayor, Alphonse Nizeyimana, citied about 52 plots of land that were given to Diaspora members who had promised to develop them but later reneged on their promise. Developers like the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR), DN International and Real Contractors, noted that their housing units located in Gaculiro, Kabuga, Masaka and Rusororo are designed to suit the needs of the Diaspora and promised to avail all necessary information through the Diaspora Directorate Among other things, it was agreed in the policy guidelines that banks also streamline the financing process to enable Rwandans in the Diaspora access credit facilities while construction companies and property consultants were also advised to cash-in on the huge potential. According to Nathan Lloyd of DN International, the high cost of housing units in high-end estates targeted by Rwandans in the Diaspora is due to the high development costs because of their ‘all inclusive’ nature. “As said before, our houses are new and we focus on the Diaspora demand. In terms of the pricing, in our case, we import about 90 percent of our construction materials and this has a bigger effect on the cost and at the same time, our products are demand driven.” Stakeholders also complained about a number of bills or draft laws on property acquisition and ownership such as the condominium law-some of which have delayed to be signed, passed or published in the National Gazette which hampers the process of acquiring houses or land. It was agreed that such bills are fast tracked to ease the process while all the necessary information on land and housing will be availed to Diaspora members through the DGD and several websites. Rwandans in the Diaspora remain one of the leading sources of foreign exchange through remittances and director money transfers. They contributed about $150m in 2008. Ends