New metropolis to be established in Gahanga

City authorities have announced that a new city centre will be created in Gahanga Sector, Kicukiro District and area residents who want to develop their land have to comply with the master plan or sell their plots to potential developers. Alphonse Nizeyimana, the city Vice Mayor in charge of Finance and Economic Development, said this in an interview with The New Times. “We will not relocate the city centre to Gahanga, but we are establishing another new city centre,” said the official. People residing in Gahanga or have plots there, have to comply with the conceptual master plan, if they want to develop their land, according to Nizeyimana. “Gahanga is so big and the nature of structures needed there will depend on the location, because the whole sector will not be a city centre,” Nizeyimana explained. Gahanga covers 3, 669 hectares, with 1, 323 meant for the city centre. However, part of the remaining land is wetlands and is hilly, which can’t be developed, according to the master plan. Kigali City boundaries cover an area of 731 square kilometres, of which only 50 percent is developable, 35 percent is hilly, 14 percent wetlands while forests covers one percent. “There are places meant for recreational centres, facilities like hospitals and hotels and commercial complexes, some of which will be above 12 floors. So it will depend on the location of the plot. Those with no capacity to develop their plots in line with the master plan will have to sell them,” he warned. The development follows complaints from residents who said that they were refused to build houses on their own land. Currently, only Nyarugenge district has a detailed master plan, and Nizeyimana said that those who want to construct in Gasabo and Kicukiro districts must conform to the conceptual plans. He also disclosed that a Singaporean firm, SCE SURBANA, which developed the Nyarugenge physical detailed master plan, was awarded a contract to also develop both Gasabo and Kicukiro plans. “But this doesn’t mean that people with plots there can’t build; they can do it but by complying with the conceptual master plan which is already in place. The problem is that people want to construct any way they want, which is not possible,” he noted. He further explained that there are sites in Kicukiro, which were also identified for communal settlements, commonly known as Imidugudu, to accommodate people in Gahanga city boundaries, with no capacity to develop their land. “The district is ready to help them identify where they can construct. It’s clear; if you cannot comply with the master plan, you can sell your property to a developer capable of developing it to the required standards. Angelique Mukunde, Kicukiro vice mayor in charge of economic and development, said the district is in the process of evaluating properties of residents. “We have places meant for residential houses and those who want to construct can come. We are in the process of evaluating the property of people who have no capacity to develop their land as required, to be compensated and eventually expropriated,” Mukunde said. bosco.asiimwe@newtimes.co.rw

National

New metropolis to be established in Gahanga