Construction of buildings must be according to a Master plan. People will be rewarded for providing information on any illegal construction
A whistle-blower who will alert Kigali city authorities about any illegal construction will receive a juicy reward of Rwf 50,000.
The city wants all new buildings to be constructed in accordance with the master plan. But there are several buildings being erected ignoring the master plan.
“Effective tomorrow, if you see a house being built and are sure the person has no construction permit, just grab your phone and dial 3262,” said Parfait Busabizwa the vice mayor of city of Kigali in charge of Economic Affairs.
He said, “If we confirm that the information is correct, our source will secretly be rewarded with Rwf 50,000 to avoid conflict with offenders.”
According to Busabizwa, there are more than 34,000 houses that constitute unplanned settlements in Kigali.
Most of them are built in wetlands, while others invaded gazetted road reserves. Others build in high risk zones.
The directive is also against any form of refurbishing existing houses in these areas.
However, city authorities indicated that people are always busy with new construction projects and rehabilitation of existing buildings which in most cases are of low standards, which increase slums in the city.
Local leaders are behind this practice which makes some parts of the city look dirty.
In the last six months, Busabizwa said, 30 local leaders in Kigali were arrested for authorizing construction of unplanned building after taking bribes.
Currently, the city marked all the unplanned houses with a – X symbol, meaning they must be removed.
Kigali City has a gap of 300,000 housing units. But the target is to bridge the gap by 2022. Authorities said, it is not an excuse for dwellers to find an odd solution.
The city is looking for investors to build affordable but planned houses to meet the annual target of 10,000 housing units.
