A team of urban planners who are part of the Project Umubano, an initiative by the British Conservative Party have advised that, construction of apartment homes is the way forward for the country.The advice by the experts is a welcome addition to the many voices that have made this clear over the last few years. Whereas many Rwandans seek to have detached houses/homes with lawns, emphasising development of apartment blocks is a statement of the obvious.Kigali’s city master plan captures the importance of vertical expansion, with multi-home/family dwellings. This is an important means of optimal land utilisation. The country’s population density can not withstand development that does not take such into consideration.The country’s leadership has on several occasions emphasised the need for optimal land utilisation, and policies in that direction, have been formulated. What is now most important is that more private developers are brought on board together with financing agencies like banks to make apartment houses attractive and fashionable.Incentives to people and developers seeking to put up apartment blocks should be put in place to encourage the trend.More so, mortgage financing packages by banks should be marketed more aggressively among middle income earners and Rwandans who live abroad and may want to own decent homes back home, and at the centre of this should be apartments.
