4.10 Challenges in new housing development in Kigali city
The main challenge in the new housing development is a large
number of informal settlement quarters on prime land that need to be
expropriated for efficient redevelopment. In an interview with an official in
charge of housing in Kigali city, he said that expropriating and redeveloping
land by providing basic amenities such as plot servicing, roads, electricity
and water supply, is an expensive multimillion project. This could delay the
implementation of the housing development.
Poverty is another big challenge to this development since the
majority of residents in informal settlements are poor. Apart from some
informal settlement quarters on prime land that need to be removed for renewal,
there are others that need to be upgraded as proposed in the master plan. But
this upgrading is a threat to the poor residents.
Another important challenge that cannot be left behind is the
poor terrain in most parts of the city. Erecting multi-storey buildings
requires that land must be flattened. This is expensive because about 50% of
land in Kigali city is on poor terrain.
Resistance to new changes by residents; normally people are
reluctant to relocate because they are not sure whether life will proceed as
they used to do. In this case, some people have fear of relocating without
knowing where to go for resettlement. As a result, they go in the city
peripheries and develop new informal settlements.
Increased rental prices; 57% of surveyed households are
tenants and in expropriation they are released to find another rent. This
increases the prices since the number of seekers is bigger than the available
houses for rent.
Lastly, as discussed in section 3.3 above, residents claim
that the expropriation prices are low such that it is not easy to re-establish
in a new area with a decent house and lifestyle. Even if assisted to get
already constructed houses, they are not satisfied with the standard and size.
Considering Batsinda housing estate built for people expropriated in Ubumwe
cell, the majority refused to acquire them saying that they are small and of
low standard.
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