The slope of Mount Jali in Gasabo District is one of the areas identified as being disaster prone. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA | NMG
Kigali City is carrying out fresh demarcations of households in
disaster-prone areas, even as
authorities try to come up with ways of dealing with homeowners who are resisting moving out despite recurrent natural disasters.
authorities try to come up with ways of dealing with homeowners who are resisting moving out despite recurrent natural disasters.
The exercise is focusing on houses
built on the slopes of hills like Mount Kigali in Nyarugenge District,
Jali in Gasabo and Rebero in Kicukiro. Thousands of families resisted
orders to move out, demanding compensation.
When City
authorities first demarcated properties in disaster-prone areas followed
by an order to relocate in 2016, local officials said only vulnerable
families would get accommodation in model villages while the rest were
required to find somewhere else to live.
Approach
This
time, Kigali City officials were tight-lipped about the likely approach
to be used in regard with the fresh exercise jointly carried out with
the Ministry of Local Government, Rwanda Housing Authority and the
security organs.
However, Ministry of Local Government spokesperson Ladislas Ngendahimana told Rwanda Today
there was a need for new data to guide planning, after previous
exercises were found to be incomplete and in some instances outdated.
“Unlike previous assessments, we are putting permanent
demarcations and the exercise should also give us the actual cost of
properties in high-risk zones,” said Mr Ngendahimana.
He added that the government wants to get the residents out of the high-risk areas for their own safety.
“The
issue of compensation is not relevant because what is crucial is that
these residents are on land that puts their lives at risk,” said Mr
Ngendahimana.
On-going demarcation
The
past three weeks have seen thousands of properties and land demarcated,
re-igniting uncertainty among occupants who are largely low-income
earners.
“No one is giving us information about the
purpose of the on-going demarcation of our land and houses,” said a
40-year old mother of five residing in Kivugiza Cell, Nyamirambo Sector.
The
number of people to be affected is yet to be known but Kigali City had
earlier estimated that over 5,000ha of built up areas were prone to
disasters.
City officials are weighing relocating
homeowners from high-risk areas and having those in informal settlements
abide by the requirement in its master plan.
This move
come with a huge cost of expropriation. Officials have been considering
giving alternative houses instead of monetary compensation.
Initial plans in the Nyarugenge District master plan for hilly areas like Mount Kigali and Jali with high density housing suggested the areas would be redeveloped into well planned housing communities instead of relocating the existing houses.
Initial plans in the Nyarugenge District master plan for hilly areas like Mount Kigali and Jali with high density housing suggested the areas would be redeveloped into well planned housing communities instead of relocating the existing houses.
The options included rezoning the areas into new medium to high-density medium rise residential areas.
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