03 Housingurbanization SteeringCommitteeDraft

N A T I O N A L L A N D U S E D E V E L O P M E N T M A S T E R P L A N H O U S I N G A N D U R B A N I Z A T I O N
“To prevent informal settlements and to

secure rights and services for informal settlers
are the greatest challenges of the Housing
Sector in the next 10 years!’
03_Housingurbanization_SteeringCommitteeDraft 0 3/29/2010
Topographic Aspects----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31
Occupancy Rate and Size ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31
Types of Buildings--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32
URBANIZATION--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Traditional --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32
INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Detached Houses----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32
Apartment Building --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33
RURAL DEVELOPMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
PRESENT AND FUTURE HOUSING STANDARDS ---------------------------------------------------------------------33
UMUDUGUDU POLICY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
Dwelling Size --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33
Policy versus Implementation-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
Desirable Housing Standard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33
Some Observations--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
Housing Costs-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34
DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8
Types of Buildings--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34
Situation Today -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8
Building Techniques -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34
Some other drawbacks of the existing DDP, which calls for attention for the future----------------8
Residential Areas---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34
Time for an Integrated District Development Plan (IDDP)? ---------------------------------------------10
DEMAND FOR HOUSING -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------35
URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
Demand---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------37
Urban Growth -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
HOUSING SUPPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------37
Situation Today -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
Labour Force --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------38
A Way Forward -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14
Building Materials---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------39
Planning methodology --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15
Ecological Building -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------39
Step 1 - Getting organized to work with the UDP and identifying stakeholders--------------------15
Financing -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------39
Step 2 - Setting the Vision for the UDP-----------------------------------------------------------------------15 Construction finance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39
Step 3 – Analyzing the situation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------16 Mortgage Finance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40
Step 4 – Setting the Goals and Objectives for the UDP -------------------------------------------------17 HOUSING POLICY AND REGULATIONS---------------------------------------------------------------------------------40
Step 5 – Establishing the development thrust and spatial strategies---------------------------------17 Current Housing Policy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------40
Step 6 - ConDucting Hearings on UDP-----------------------------------------------------------------------17 Proposed Policy-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------41
Step 7 - Preparing the Detailed Draft UDP ------------------------------------------------------------------17 Affordable Housing --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41
Step 8 - Reviewing, adopting and approving the UDP ---------------------------------------------------17 Rental Market--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------41
Step 9 - Implementing the UDP --------------------------------------------------------------------------------17 Self-built Homes------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42
Step 10 – Monitoring, reviewing & evaluating the UDP --------------------------------------------------17
URBAN AREA SPECIFICATION TO AGREE ON?-----------------------------------------------------------------------18 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY FOR INFORMAL SETTLEMENT UPGRADING ----------------------44
RESIDENTIAL DENSITY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21 INFORMAL HOUSING AND SETTLEMENTS IN AFRICA – AN OVERVIEW -------------------------------------------44
URBAN/RURAL SCENARIOS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23 TENTATIVE METHODOLOGY FOR INFORMAL SETTLEMENT UPGRADING ----------------------------------------47
PLANNING STANDARDS FOR A SUSTAINED DISTRICT CENTER IN A ‘GREEN SCENARIO’ CONTEXT --------26 General Description------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------47
HOUSING---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28 Comprehensive Inventory----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------48
Clarification, Classification and Prioritization ----------------------------------------------------------------49
INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28 Initiation of community participation/collaboration ---------------------------------------------------------50
PRESENT SITUATION -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28 Election of a Development Committee -----------------------------------------------------------------------50
Previous Planning and Policies---------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 Empowerment-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------51
Quality -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 Poverty Reflection, Surveying and Mapping of the Area-------------------------------------------------52
Climatic Aspects ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31
Improvements Prioritization and Proposed Form of Registered Land Rights/Degree of Land Key Issues Underpinning the Methodology -----------------------------------------------------------------55
Tenure Security -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------53 The Use of Generic Data-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------56
Implementation of Projects and Registered Land Rights ------------------------------------------------53 Supporting the Local Authority – Shared Decision-Making ---------------------------------------------59
Inventory of users of the different parcels--------------------------------------------------------------------54 Physical Risk---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------59
Acquisition of the land---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------54
REFERENCES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------60
Preparation of legal document for security of tenure------------------------------------------------------54
Registration of legal owner in the Land Registration System-------------------------------------------54
Communication with the land owner --------------------------------------------------------------------------54 LIST OF FIGURES---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------60
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES AND THE USE OF GIS IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENT UPGRADING ---------55
Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------55 LIST OF TABLES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------60
GIS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------55
The National Land Use and Development Master Plan is referred to as the Plan in the text.
03_Housingurbanization_SteeringCommitteeDraft 1
3/29/2010
URBANIZATION
increased on average by 5.5 % per year. The urban demographic mass is concentrated
INTRODUCTION to Kigali City with some 800,000 persons. This spontaneous or uncontrolled
Definition. Urbanization is defined within the ambit from a Presidential Order upon a proposal by urbanisation has led to a twofold process of increased density and degradation of areas
District Councils followed by advice from the Minister in charge of town planning. According found near urban centres and of dispersed peri-urban habitat - all which bring about
urban policy statement requirements, urbanization means putting in place urbanization tools - expensive outreach service and infrastructure (Urbanisation Policy, 2007)..
urbanization and management master plan, local master plans and particular areas’
management plans - availing basic infrastructure for built areas, restructuring under-serviced, Based on findings from the rural/urban situation today it is evident that Rwanda is facing
informal or spontaneous, parts of settlements. It includes all public interventions meant to a major challenge to provide secure, comfortable, well serviced and hazard free
enhance and to frame the urbanization process for the Rwandan people, to structure the urban shelters for its population in the future:
network both at national and provincial levels, to improve town management and to manage both
towns’ and urban areas’ development and field extensions, especially through simple and
efficient planning tools. The policy is meant to set Government orientations and priorities in Lack of progress statistics about the Umudugudu Program make it
harmony with its goals as found in Vision 2020, the poverty reduction programmed and the difficult to assess the achievements so far but it is unlikely that the
national investment strategy. Implementing this policy will amount to supporting the said process, target of 70% of the rural population will live in this type of villages by
coordinating all the activities to be undertaken and caring for their follow up and assessment the year 2020;
(Urbanisation Policy, 2007).
Much rural population today will look for new job opportunities and
Integrated process. Urban development as results from any urbanization process is neither which might result in a rapid (uncontrolled) migration to urban areas that
limited to physical infrastructure nor to housing estates. It also hinges on economic, political, are not even capable of meeting the demands of today;
social and institutional factors. Urban development requires to avail - also at local level - suitable
planning and regulatory tools, to build capacity and to mobilize both for public and private sector More that 80% of the existing built-up areas is unplanned with
involvement the required financial means and resources to plan and to improve urban and rural insufficient provision of property rights, services and utilities;
settlements - this towards improving people’s living conditions including those of the less
advantaged majority. It is also indicated that directed, planned and controlled urbanization should The present construction industry has no capacity to meet the needs for
be considered as an opportunity and a driving force for development - each town is to be given a a growing urban population;
specific objective, e.g. tourism, industry and culture), and its architectural designs will take such
objectives into account. Lack of institutional framework and planning standards for urban
development planning and monitoring increase the risks for degraded
urban fabrics in the future.
Population evolution. Five fold increase in seven decades. In slightly more than 70 years, In the following an attempt is made to sort out some of the factors that can contribute to
Rwanda’s population has increased more than five times, from 1,595,500 in 1934, to 9,344,399 a sustainable way forward.
persons in 2007. Today the urbanisation index is 18.7 %, ie, roughly 1,747,403 people against
9,344,399 for the whole country. Following the 1978 and 1991 censuses, urban population
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Rural Development community infrastructure and facilities result in very unfavorable conditions in terms of
In the precolonial times, there was a very limited degree of urbanization because most people community hygiene and environment protection.
lived in the rural areas where they pursued subsistence farming. The level of urbanization in
Rwanda was the lowest in Africa (between 0% and 10%) because its economy was based The growth in population has encouraged urbanization, which has created economic
exclusively on agriculture; therefore the population was essentially rural. Migration to urban complications for the government. Hence, infrastructure is inadequate and economic
centers such as Kigali was (and is still) dictated by the search for employment in order to escape opportunities very limited. Economic activities and the standard of living in the rural
rural poverty. Declining conditions in agricultural production as a result of inadequate rainfall and areas must be improved in order to allow people to stay instead of migrating to urban
lack of mechanized farming made movement to urban centers an attractive alternative. The centers.
increase in urban population has created some social problems such as poor housing and the
Studies in demography reveal that countries that have suffered civil wars, natural
rapid spread of diseases as a result of overcrowding among unskilled workers.
disasters, and political instability are susceptible to rapid urban growth. Returning
Successive governments since the colonial period have not seriously and effectively tackled the refugees often settle in urban centers in order to have access to employment. This puts
problem. For administrative reasons and in order to provide social services such as education a strain on economic resources and social services provided by the government.
and health care, the colonial authorities decided to create the administrative posts of Kigali, Rwanda falls within this category. By 2002, the rate of urbanization had increased to
Butare, Gisenyi, Cyangugu, Ruhengeri, Byumba, Nyanza, Kibungo, Gitarama and Kibuye, were approximately 16 percent, with the attendant problems of waste, poor saturation, and
largely planned by the Belgians for economic purposes and administrative convenience, and water pollution. Kigali, the capital, is densely populated, and the increase in population
opened residential areas in the surrounds for their local employees. The creation of these became more apparent after the genocide.
administrative centres and the settlement of nationals in these centres marked the beginning of
Rwanda is among the most rural countries in the world. Most people live in individual
urbanization, trade and other services. The expansion of trade activities outside administrative
family compounds surrounded by banana groves and scattered across the hillsides.
centers created small business centers characterized by settlements in clusters. Such centers
The hill - the collection of families living on a single hill - has historically been the central
were considerable rural economic zones and some of them are Ruhango, Rubengera, Gakenke,
social and political unit. Each hill used to have a chief who linked the population to the
Gatsibo, Rwamagana etc…
monarch. Although chieftaincies were abolished in the 1960s, the new administrative
By the end of the colonial period, three types of human settlement could be identified clearly,
units generally preserved the hill divisions under the name of sectors.
namely (i) the pre-colonial and colonial settlements, (ii) the modern urban settlements and (iii) the
settlement in small business centers. Foreigners such as Arabs, Belgians, Indians, and
Nevertheless, the term "village" may cause a misunderstanding in the Rwandan
Pakistanis lived in the urban centers.
context, as settlements are generally, dispersed in rural Rwanda. If the term "village"
means a group of houses in a rural area, there was no "village" in traditional Rwanda.
The establishment of infrastructure and other public utilities in urban centres attracted labour in
Typical scenery in this country is that of hills cultivated up to their tops and dotted with a
search of employment and social progress and led to rural migration which created considerable
few small houses. Researchers have tried to explain this particular way of dwelling.
housing needs. However, the authorities kept to the procedures of urban planning inherited from
Someone claimed that the reason was to make houses in close proximity to fields.
the colonizers. Building plots made available by the Government could meet the needs of less
According to this assertion, such location was necessary because movement is not in
than 10% of households only. Low income families settle in unplanned residential areas. For
the mountainous topography. Others insisted that political reasons had influenced the
these residential areas, urbanization is generally characterized by the choice of inadequate sites
(plots which are liable to flooding or very steep). Moreover, high housing density and lack of way of settlement. However, none of these explications seems to be entirely
persuasive. We should confine ourselves to the fact that habitation has been scattered
in rural Rwanda, and that the government considers that it needs to be corrected.
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In 2004, the government instituted a program of villagization in the countryside -the Umudugudu Besides water, villages should be provided with energy sources such as (biogas, solar
Policy- encouraging peasant farmers to leave their isolated homesteads to live together in small energy, aeolian, micro-stations) and connected to the national power network, where
villages intended to facilitate the administration of social services. possible. Research must be carried out on renewable energy such as solar and wind
energy so as to improve the housing and work conditions in villages.
Umudugudu Policy
Policy versus Implementation Taskforce. The Ministry of Local Government and other line ministries had formed a
The development of a sustainable human settlement policy in Rwanda aimed at Umudugudu- taskforce to ensure the implementation of the policy in the shortest possible time. The
oriented planning based on a participatory approach and an urban planning requiring land Minister revealed that since the adoption of the policy in1996, only 22 % of the
security and area allocations. The same planning took into consideration the complementarity population had been resettled in Imidugudu, whereas the target was to have at least 70
between urban and rural development. Moreover, it should ensure to all Rwandans decent % in these settlements by the year 2020 with the remaining 30 % of population
housings as well as more salubrious, viable, equitable, sustainable and productive human expected to reside in cities.
facilities. The projected policy is likely to reduce the existing gap in accessing infrastructure and
In spite efforts. Despite the huge efforts put in the development of infrastructural
social services; to involve and make local authorities and the community more aware of their
facilities and the provision of basic services – i.e., roads, water, electricity, schools,
responsibilities with regard to the development and management of the settlement by means of
hospitals, banks, telephones and other socio-economic amenities - rural households,
endogenous building technologies and production of cheap, sufficient and decent local materials.
on the whole, are still far apart from one another. In the Umudugudu villages, which
Besides, the policy shall be a platform to put in place sound mechanisms for mobilizing internal
were established to ameliorate this situation, there are also differences in terms of
and external resources needed for a long-term funding of affordable settlements. The policy shall
access to infrastructure and social services for the people who live there. The distance
be endowed with an institutional framework, adapted and flexible legal and regulatory
between houses and water supply points is still hindering.
instruments that meet the great demand and technical requirements of rational planning.
(Updated National Human Settlement Policy 2009) Figure 1: Development of Infrastructural Facilities: Umudugudu
Umudugudu is defined as a mode of planned settlement made of between 100 and 200 houses
by site in rural areas. Measurements of plot reserved for « Umudugudu » range from 10 to 20
hectares with a possibility or capacity of extension and as far as possible a space provided for
various nonagricultural activities so as to allow the population to earn their lives. The combination
of all these elements constitutes the Umudugudu.
Consolidation of villages and rural centres aims at providing facilities and other supporting
infrastructure in these sites. The objective of this programme is to bring all the sites in Umidugudu
to an acceptable level in terms of access to social and economic services. Lack of access to
clean water has been cited as the main complaint against most of the first imidugudu established
in the past. Priority must therefore be given to water supply in the villages and existing rural
centres. Water supply networks established in the framework of scattered settlement system
must be readapted to this new fact.
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Figure 2: The Vision of Umudugudu and Implementation Examples.
Some Observations
The Umudugudu Policy is a very ambitious program to resettle the majority of the
population within 20 years. In a land use context it is interesting to see what criteria is
being used for the selection of sites. Until now in the plan preparation process very little
information has been found in this respect.
Figure 3: The Flatland Vision and its Implementation in Rwanda Hilly Landscape
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One observation is that that there are different ways to present the result of the
selection of sites,.see below:
Figure 4: The Sites as Point Features
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Both these example are using the old topomap as the backdrop. The topomap with its
low resolution is in a land use analysis the best tool. It is recommended that for this
rather detailed site location analysis, the NLC Orthophoto portfolio is being used in
combination with the 10 M DTM which is available.
Another observation is that the site selection process seems to lack consultation with
the (key) stakeholders which result in challenging existing land uses protected by
legislation. The example below show how sites are encroaching protected forest areas.
Figure 5: The Sites as a Polygon Area
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Simply spoken, if not the majority of new Rwandans will look for Kigali as their home,
the alternative to offer a life with quality in the District Canters must be a first priority.
Some other drawbacks of the existing DDP, which calls for attention for
the future
None of the existing conditions data are spatially mapped. The existing condition
data is only shown in tabular form. Each district should have the ability to take this
tabular data and map it based on sectors for comparative analysis. Spatially mapping
existing conditions data is an important basis for an implementation strategy because it
quantifies data in ways that tabular data analysis cannot. GIS is a most useful tool for
planning at local level and by the Plan Project NLC can now provide the District with
current and enough detailed spatial data (orthophotos and base map vector data) for
District Development Planning development planning.
Situation Today The analysis of existing infrastructure and
While the District Development Plans (DDPs) are well placed to be prioritization and transportation within the district is inadequate. While
implementation tools of the Plan, it is recommended that they be significantly improved to serve
infrastructure improvements are a major item funded
as adequate tools for planning at local government level. For example, urbanization in the 30 through the district, the analysis of the infrastructure and
District is a crucial component that is very little observed in existing District Development Plans. transportation in the district is not well developed.
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of these priority projects should be included. It

The demographic data for the district is difficult to understand the timeframe of each
is inadequate. Instruments such as the of these projects. The priority projects should
Rwanda EICV and other be classified by development categories as
census data should be integrated and well as by sectors. Clarity in project location is
refined at the socio-economic conditions crucial information need by sector
within each district. policymakers to implement these projects.
Breakdown summaries of the source of
Agriculture data for the district is funding, and funding tied to each development
inadequate. Agriculture is the biggest project to better understand how and where
economic driver in Rwanda and it has an the district is allocating and prioritizing its
important influence for the rural areas of resources. The projects identified as priority
the Districts. However, the analysis of projects need to be spatially mapped.
agricultural capabilities of each district is Currently these projects are classified by
not well developed. Specific data on what existing agriculture productivity and agro- sector. It is very difficult to understand where
ecological/economic potential should be included in the analysis of land use planning and these projects will be implemented without a
expenditures. map.
The methodology of the public participation component of needs to be improved.

Because the participatory component of the opportunity and constraints analysis is so critical, a
consistent framework for this exercise needs to be used so that the results of the analysis can be
comparable. Detailed and systematized data should be provided on the dates these exercises
occurred, how many people participated, and what sectors participated.
The improvement recommendations should be district specific. Currently, these

recommendations are many times too vague and do not relate very well to the deficiencies Capacity and manpower skills at District
identified in the existing conditions analysis. These recommendations should be more based on office. All existing District Plans have been
the existing context of the district. made by consultants, unfortunately with very
little transfer of knowledge included in the
Mapping, prioritization, monitoring and funding of District Development Projects should assignment. The result is that the poorly
be more transparent. Overall, there should be district level capital improvement plans tying trained staff will not be able to use the DDP
efficiently as a tool for monitoring and
implementation.
district, city, and sector scales together in an overall plan. Priority projects should be identified.
Sources of funding for each of these projects should be provided. Year until completion for each
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Time for an Integrated District Development Plan (IDDP)? Integrated development planning is also a strategic framework that is intended to
Integrated Development Planning (IDP) is one of the key tools for local government to improve District governance through aligning the financial resources and human
manage its new developmental role. In contrast to the relatively narrow role planning had in the capacity of the municipality with the implementation of strategies, programs and
past, integrated development planning is now seen as a function of municipal management, as projects that aim to address the prioritized needs of the more deprived, while
part of an integrated system of planning and delivery. The IDP process is meant to arrive at maintaining the existing infrastructure and economic activities in the municipality.
decisions on issues such as municipal budgets, land management, promotion of local economic
development and institutional transformation, and to achieve this in a consultative, systematic It is, most fundamentally, a
and strategic manner. Integrated Development Plans, however, will not only inform the municipal mechanism to achieve
management; they are also supposed to guide the activities of any agency from other spheres of local government
government, corporate service providers, NGOs and the private sector within the municipal area. transformation. The
planning process will
The goal of integrated development planning is to achieve more efficient and more effective determine the strategies
delivery of both municipal and other services to communities, and the creation of a framework for and functions that will
economic and social development in the municipality. A number of links also exist between inevitably lead to changes
integrated development planning and intended developmental outcomes. to municipal structures,
forms and processes,
Integrated development planning should also function as a catalyst for wealth creation and resulting in a range of
distribution. It is intended to assist in the promotion of socio-economic development through operational strategies that
providing a more predictable framework within which should ensure that the
municipality is able to
governmental, private or foreign investments will more easily be attracted. It will also facilitate the deliver effectively, efficiently and economically on the development priorities, objectives,
creation of a more investor-friendly environment and the promotion of local economic strategies, programs and projects identified in the planning process. However, this will
development. be an incremental process.
Integrated development planning is a means of improving the quality of people’s lives through the Integrated development planning is a vehicle to expedite delivery. The consultative
implementation of integrated and sustainable programs and projects. It is a cross-cutting process process is intended to ensure a well-informed, fast-track decision-making process that
that seeks to co-ordinate and align all dimensions and sectors engaged in development addresses areas of conflict as they arise at grass-roots level, and broadens the sense
of ownership of the outcome.
by formulating integrated development strategies that are socially, economically and
environmentally sustainable. Integrated development planning is also a barometer for political accountability, and a
measuring-tool for District performance. Since the IDP should be linked to a political
Integrated development planning is intended to lay a new foundation for community-building, term of office, political office-bearers are therefore accountable for its implementation,
through inclusively creating a shared vision for the future development of the District area and communities may use the IDP to assess the performance of their representatives.
jurisdiction. It should focus on developing consensus around strategic developmental priorities, Councillors may also use it as a way of measuring the effectiveness and performance
ideally transcending party-political debates and fostering a new grasp of, and commitment to the
challenges of poverty alleviation, local economic development and environmental sustainability.
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of the administration, and to assess the extent to which their political mandates have been Table 1: Planning Status of District Centers
implemented.
District Area District District Centre
Integrated development planning is intended as a mechanism to align and co-ordinate the plans (SqKm) Population Centre Population of
and activities of the different spheres of government, as well as a mechanism of co-ordination 2010 Population District
within the local authority itself. The latter purpose is particularly important, since the IDP will form 2010 Population (%)
the basis for engagement between officials, councillors, citizens and other stakeholders, including
engagement around such practical concerns as budget allocation. Capital City
Urban Development Planning Kigali

Urban Growth District
Characteristic of the Rwandan population is that its overwhelming numbers lives in rural areas: Centers
urbanization has not yet been developed. The proportion of the urban population was only
around 5% in 1991. Burera 644 406,328 Not found
Studies in demography reveal that countries that have suffered civil wars, natural disasters, and
political instability are susceptible to rapid urban growth. Returning refugees often settle in urban Bugesera 1,290 337,943 Not found
centers in order to have access to employment. This puts a strain on economic resources and
social services provided by the government. Rwanda falls within this category. Gakenke 704 407,954 Not found
The extreme violence that swept the country in 1994 devastated Rwanda's rural social structure. Gasabo 429 530,453 Not found
With millions of people uprooted from their homes, hundreds of thousands killed, and hundreds
Gatsibo 922 359,074 Not found
of thousands more returned from long exile, Rwandan society underwent rapid social change.
Most of the returned refugees chose to settle in urban areas, while many in the countryside were Gicumbi 829 455,677 Not found
killed or chose to move to the cities. As a result, urbanization took on a new character, even as
the rate of urbanization jumped dramatically. By 2002, the rate of urbanization had increase to Gisagara 679 328,643 Not found
approximately 16 percent, with the attendant problems of waste, poor saturation, and water
pollution. Kigali, the capital, is densely populated, and the increase in population became more Huye 581 336,259 Not found
apparent after the genocide.
Kamonyi 655 331,053 Not found
Situation Today Not found
Karongi 992 353,358
At present very few urban areas in Rwanda have a guided or regulatory plan for urban
development. Kigali City has a ‘Master Plan’ which was adopted in 2009. Out of 30 District Kayonza 1,934 265,671 Not found
Centers, only 5 have an urban plan under preparation. A tender has recently been issued for
preparation of two more Centers (Huye and Muhanga). Kicukiro 167 343,940 Not found
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Kirehe 1,184 290,683 Not found
Muhanga 647 363,840 Not found
Musanze 530 388,997 Not found

Figure 6: Planning Status of District Centre 2010 (See next page)
Ngoma 867 297,829 Not found
Ngororero 679 357,545 Not found
Nyabihu 531 339,959 Not found
Nyagatare 1,919 323,158 Not found
Nyamagabe 1,090 354,704 Not found
Nyamasheke 1,173 411,741 Not found
Nyanza 672 285,288 Not found
Nyarugenge 134 392,217 Not found
Nyaruguru 1,010 296,665 Not found
Rubavu 388 370,724 Not found
Ruhango 626 311,414 Not found
Rulindo 567 318,296 Not found
Rusizi 958 420,504 Not found
Rutsiro 1,157 334,883 Not found
Rwamagana 682 279,325 Not found
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A Way Forward such as environmental pollution, congestion and traffic, crime, malaise and
Throughout Africa there is a trend away from the traditional master or structure planning unemployment are being aggravated by the lack of housing, transportation and
approach. Emphasis is now placed on strategic policies that supplement comprehensive communications infrastructure, as well as poverty, disease and overall lack of basic
physical development planning with more deliberate attention being paid to achieving services. These problems thus, highlight the need for rational and efficient management
Millennium Development Goals and National Vision (2020), especially in the spheres of of urban and rural resources as well as the restoration of functions that will help these
poverty alleviation, economic development and governance. Often plans are not urban areas implement sustainable development strategies to cope with the
implemented and are then attacked as being poor plans, when in fact the implementation consequences of rapid population growth and environmental consequences.
constraints lie elsewhere. To make planning comprehensive, it is important to translate
‘planning jargon’ to a planning idiom that reflects ordinary people’s needs of shelter The ability to manage urban growth and change will depend on timely access to data on
(housing), job opportunities and service provision in a safe and healthy environment. the environment and on how effectively these data can be transformed into useful
information to support planning and decision making particularly at the district and local
We advocate for an Urban Development Plan (UDP) to be prepared for all District Centers level. It is in this area of acquisition, manipulating and displaying complicated interactions
that can be translated into an effective instrument to be used by district and local between spatial and attributes data that geographic information system (GIS), has proven
management in daily decisions, annual programming and budgeting processes. The Plan to be an effective tool for a wide range of applications. When combined with other new
needs to reflect both the long term visions and the immediate and short term technologies such as global positioning system (GPS) and remote sensing (RS) it further
implementation capacities. The Plan should, therefore, be more than physical plans with provides an enhanced and invaluable tool to use with other databases and spatial
zoning regulations and include components that directly address local authority information in, various stages of sustainable development planning and management of
governance issues and implementation capacity. Technical capacities that include GIS the environment. However, the introduction of computerized GIS and LIS tools in planning
and LIS not only for planning but for implementation and land administration are part of and land administration also take time, and usually more time than originally expected.
this institutional development process. Training, database development, data acquisition and input, development of norms and
standards, and agreeing with data producers and consumers on standards for data-
The implication of this perspective is that the project tasks must include a review of what exchange, all take unpredictable periods of time. Work must proceed on several fronts
managers would like to see in a strategic plan. The approach also leads to a need at local simultaneously, always with a flexibility that allows for adjustments. It is also important for
level to see planning as a continuous process within the framework of a long term vision managers to understand what the implications of this computerization have for working
that may be periodically updated and renewed. In its character as a process it should be processes, staff disposition, budgets and quality control mechanisms, besides becoming
linked to budgeting systems and annual work programs. Furthermore, the approach must aware of legal implications involved in data sharing. Any professional training or capacity
be supported by legislation that provides a legal framework for implementation and building program must, therefore have components directed at managers,
enforcement activities. (This is being taken into consideration in the ongoing Project practitioners/direct users and technical support staff.
where a new comprehensive legislation for synchronized planning will be presented at
Project closure). Any increase in true participatory planning approaches implies a lengthening of time
required for planning. Meaningful consultation and participatory planning requires time. If
With rapid urbanization and dramatic growth of population in urban areas, Rwanda is time is not taken there is a high risk of disillusionment and even antagonism towards both
experiencing increased pressures on its natural resources that contribute to the planning and planners. The benefits of constructive participatory approaches are
degradation of the environment. In addition, the problems being faced by urban societies expected in implementation and enforcement activities, as well as in the development of
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public-private partnerships that shift some of the burden of development to the private Recommended steps in a comprehensive and integrated development approach for land
commercial and civil society sectors. use planning are outlined as follows:
Our understanding of the objectives and the expected outputs of a new concept for urban The rationales for the UDP, which identifies and describes the steps of the UDP
development planning are summarized in the following planning methodology. preparation, are summarized below. Leads for GIS as a tool in the UDP preparation would
then be to prepare information products which reflect that
Planning methodology
Physical planning should utilize the best available scientific information to identify and the Plan is both regulatory and catalytic at the same time ;
protect significant natural resources and to ensure the viability of both human and natural
communities. Advancement in the fields of landscape ecology and conservation biology the Plan Process will include a substantial amount of participatory planning or
have led to a greater understanding of the importance of protecting buffer areas, wildlife rather collaborative planning.
corridors, and other landscape characteristics essential for healthy, functioning
ecosystems. New innovative attempts to ‘modernize’ planning and monitoring, such as The following Steps are proposed and can easily be
the Pressure-State-Response Model, promise to make the work more effective. Our adopted into the prescribed phases/tasks of the UDP
approach will introduce methods, which make it possible to predict the socio-economic Planning Process:
and environmental impact of various decisions and discuss alternatives at an early stage.
Indicators showing whether plans promote or work against the achievement of socio- Information Products can be defined as the instructive
economic and environmental objectives are presented in different stages of the planning components that are needed to present a UDP Step in a
process. Furthermore, our approach will introduce the means by which these planning comprehensive way and will consist of tables, graphs and
principles can be incorporated into the consensus-based planning process that ensures maps in both digital and paper based formats.
protection of significant natural areas and human communities. It makes it possible to
determine the total urban land supply, consider monitoring of land use changes and Step 1 - Getting organized to work with the UDP and identifying
project compliance to land use policies and guidelines and consider monitoring the stakeholders
deviation of the existing land use to the proposed structure plan or zoning. Anticipating and preparing for the resources that will be needed for the surveying and
planning activities will lead to the smooth implementation and accomplishment of the
Our approach will be primarily devoted to illustrating the use of GIS as a decision support planning outputs on time. As regards data capture it is important to ensure that a ‘GIS
tool for sustainable environmental solutions and to developing generic procedures in Start Package’ -the resources needed for GIS activities- are readily available. It will mean
generating alternative spatial strategies by using GIS technology in all the plan that all the five components of GIS will be secured: hardware, software, human resource
preparation steps. It will introduce the stakeholders to planning techniques and standards, development, data and methodology.
GIS analysis techniques in the assessment of socio-economic, institutional, infrastructure
and environmental conditions, graphic user interfaces and developed formal decision Step 2 - Setting the Vision for the UDP
support models. It will also explore the advantages of using remote sensing techniques, The Ministry of Infrastructure, which has a leading role in the process, has a Vision and
such as change detection analyses, for environmental monitoring. It will utilize GIS in, for Goal and Objectives. These visionary statements could (and should) not differ from other
example, the overlay analysis to determine suitable areas for the development of various visions provided for the country (Vision 2020) and be mirrored in the UDP. Also the
public services and utilities. upcoming STUDA have goals, guidelines and planning standards that will have impact on
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urban planning. This avoids Duplication of efforts and the risk of confusion among also trigger the “search –for data’ activity and the secondary source data custodians
stakeholders and the general public. Likewise, the UDP vision must reflect the NICI- 2010 should then be approached as early as possible in order to get all necessary information
Plan in which the Rwandan Government is pursuing the creation of a knowledge-based required for this step as the search and acquisition for the data is usually a lengthy
economy, and in which Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will play a process.
central role. The objective is to use ICT for poverty reDuction through its catalytic and
leveraging effect on improving access to basic services such as eDucation and health. In this Step, thematic spatial layers -Baseline Studies- need to be prepared for all sectors
and sub sectors included in the UDP. The locations of service facilities, infrastructure
utilities, environmental prospects and constraints and land management regulatory
options and limitations as specified in the ToR need to be defined with an accuracy that is
Step 3 – Analyzing the situation acceptable for UDP planning and analysis activities.
Step 3 of the planning process - Situation Analysis

- basically answers the question: Where are we
now? It is both analytical and diagnostic, geared
towards identifying issues, potentials and future
development needs and spatial requirements of
the city/nation. Assessment involves technical and
participatory methods.
In this step the first thing is to take necessary actions to gather the required data and to
prepare a digital UDP Base Map. It might be a lengthy process and it is, therefore,
important to ensure that a base map is readily available as soon as possible so gathering
of data for sector and cross sector analysis is not delayed.
It is, likewise, recommended to prepare the demography data upon the base line studies
and sector analyses that eDucation, health, transport, agriculture, etc. will be based on. As
there is only one vision set for the nation one population projection should be agreed on.
Technical assessment is based on factual data derived from surveys, official publications It is also recommended that a proper File and Folder system should be introduced for the
and records of the national agencies concerned and other entities. Assessment involves accumulated Project attribute and spatial data.
the use of indicators such as proportions, rates, frequency, quality/condition (e.g. severity,
critical, etc.), standards and other parameters that are vital in characterizing the situations. The Needs Assessment Information Products will be a comprehensive combination of
maps which will not only reveal weaknesses or gaps in the distribution of goods and
The result of the consultation will hopefully bring out a tailored specification of data that services of the urban area but also the District needs based on population projections.
answers to the special requirement for sustainable development .The consultation will GIS is a useful tool for this as it makes the plan more transparent to the general public.
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The Risk & Suitability Analysis Information Products will focus on the limitations and GIS will be a useful instrument to translate the plan into a format that will be understood
potentials originating from nature and man made/enforced restrictions/ rules and by the stakeholders. The information proDucts in the above step can be printed out and
regulations. These will provide the bases for some examples for the formulation of a displayed and/or be included in a PowerPoint presentation.
sustainable development plan for the urban area.
Step 7 - Preparing the Detailed Draft UDP
It is at this stage where the location and details of the plan
components are put into final draft form. It also provides for more
detailed information on land use regulations/controls, among other
Step 4 – Setting the Goals and Objectives for the UDP things. The GIS will be useful in furnishing templates which are
The next step after the data gathering and analysis is the formulation of goals and based on map standards with regard to format and symbology.
objectives that will help the nation to achieve its vision. It is important that the goals and
objectives reflect the “common good” or consensus of the broader community so that
implementation of the plan effectively engages all sectors, and ownership is shared
community-wide. A good way to achieve this is to conduct participatory goal-setting Step 8 - Reviewing, adopting and approving the UDP
processes in public settings where the Situation and Risk & Suitability Analysis The mandatory and comprehensive review of the UDP will take place
Information Products can be presented. in this step, after which adoption, enactment and approval of UDP by
the Client will take place but this is not included in the Tasks.
Step 5 – Establishing the development thrust and spatial strategies
This step is critical in determining the future spatial development of the nation and GIS benefits from the excellence of the digital mode compared to the
involves the understanding of what is appropriate, feasible and possible through an tedious process of reviewing analogue maps which might be useful in
exploration of different land use alternatives or scenarios. A draft plan will be prepared this step.
based on a preferred way forward. Only the planner’s imagination can define the limits of
the use GIS in this step. Most probably the use of GIS will be limited to actual presentation The following steps will be catered for by
and display work in the beginning. When the planner acquires advanced skills in the use the District Government:
of the GIS, more sophisticated spatial analysis is possible.
Step 9 - Implementing the UDP
Step 6 - ConDucting Hearings on UDP Implementing the UDP requires resources,
institutional structures and procedures. For
This involves a 3-stage process namely: public display and example Provincial and District Master
information dissemination; conDuct of hearings and consultations. Plans (we prefer to say ‘Comprehensive
The process aims to inform the general public and ensure an Land-use Plans’) need to be prepared in order to provide a closer touch base
objective and participatory review of the draft UDP and to encourage interpretation of the national strategies. It is recommended that the proposed planning
ownership of the plan and gain support for its implementation. legislation should allow great flexibility for the implementers to design and implement their
own organizational structure and staffing pattern taking into consideration its vision,
mission, goals and objectives as contained in the UDP and accountability to the country.
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Step 10 – Monitoring, reviewing & evaluating the UDP

The GIS enables the planner to readily extract data from
the database and UDP project profile, thus, it will be easier
for the Rwanda National Land Centre and agencies
concerned to manage/ implement projects as well as
share project information with stakeholders/contractors.
With the UDP and its implementation program established, assessment procedures for its
effectiveness must be instituted. Monitoring review and evaluation are performed to
assess how fully and how effectively a plan is being carried out.
The combination of attribute and spatial data, which is a unique advantage of GIS, greatly
facilities the measurement of development outcome and trends. As the GIS software is
developing strongly into more user-friendly interface it will also be easier to meet a
growing demand for ‘political transparency’ and participatory planning.
Urban Area Specification to Agree on?

During fact-finding activities the following map se below: The map shows rather large
areas outside Kigali being classified as urban. Even parts of protected forest areas have
been defined as ‘urban’. The urbanized classification is not either justified if a comparison
is made by the analysis shown on the map on the next side.
Figure 7: Urban Areas (indicated with grey color)
Figure 8 Percentage of Build-up Areas by District 2008 (See next page)
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For future planning activities, both at central level as local level (District Development ADMINISTRATVIE Capital City Urban area that holds authorities and
Plans and Urban Development Plans) it is considered to be most important to agree on institutions for central governance
one national standard for classification of urban versus. The following figure presents an
attempt to define ‘urban’ from various aspects. (Provincial (Urban area that holds authorities and
Centre) institutions for provincial governance)
Table 2: Proposal how an urban area would be defined in a land use planning cont
District Centre Urban area that holds authorities and
Classification Object Definition institutions for local governance
SPATIAL (NLC Built-up Area Conglomeration of buildings including (Sector Centre) Urban area that holds authorities and
National Base Map open fields such as sports fields and institutions for local governance. Not
Definition) marketplaces. Minimal functional area is applicable in the Plan context but will be
approximately 40,000 sqM (200 x 200 M an important unit for comparison in the
depending on shape). Minimal functional District Development Plan (DDP)
width is approximately 50 M depending on SIZE Major Urban Urban area with more than 50,000
significance. Two areas are connected if Area inhabitants year 2010
the distance between the defined
polygons specified above is less then Other Urban Urban area with less than 50,000
approximately 75 M, depending on Area inhabitants year 2010
appearance. Only one row of houses on
each side of the road is not defined as a ZONING Gazetted Urban area with an approved Urban
built up-area. Urban Area Development Plan (UDP)
POPULATION Urban Area Urban area with a population density more Unregulated Urban area without an approved Urban
DENSITY than10 inhabitants /hectare Urban Area Development Plan (UDP)
Semi-urban Urban area with an population density

less than 10 inhabitants /hectare
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Residential Density
Kigali Master Plan has made a comprehensive analysis on residential densities, see figures
below:
Based on these findings, the Plan proposes a bit more simplistic set o residential
standards for urban development planning:
Net Residential Density Number Population

of Density
Housing (inhabitants
Units/ha /ha)
AR Rural Residential <3 < 15

R1 Low Residential ~ 10 ~ 50
R2 Medium Residential ~ 20 ~ 100
R3 Single-storey High Residential ~ 60 ~ 300
R4 Multi-storey High Residential > 100 > 500
Net residential density; Percentage of

Low Density: The average maximum parcel size for a low density residential area inhabitants to the total area including
development in an undeveloped area would be 1000 sq, meters. One house per parcel service access roads. This percentage is
would result in a density range of 8-13 housing units per hectare, or an average of 11 measued on the basis of number of
housing units per hectare. These numbers are a bit higher than the low density inhabitants per hectare or number of
developments in Kigali city which are around 4-8 housing units per hectare. housing per hectare.
Medium Density: The average parcel size for a medium density residential development in
an undeveloped area would be about 600 sq. meters. One house per parcel would result in
a density range of 11-33 housing units per hectare or an average of 22 housing units per
General Residential Guidelines for Year 2020:
hectare. These numbers are a bit higher than the medium density developments in Kigali
city which are around 6-17 housing units per hectare.
General average household size: 4.3 persons
High Density: The average parcel size for a single-story high density residential
General average of housing unit occupancy: 1 household
development in an undeveloped area would be about 200 sq. meters. One house per
parcel would result in a density range of 33-66 housing units per hectare or an average of General average housing unit size: 120 sqM
50 per hectare. These numbers are a bit higher than the existing high density
developments in Kigali city which are around 40 housing units per hectare.
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Urban/Rural Scenarios
Table 3: Urban/Rural Scenarios
Red 2020 Yellow 2020 Green 2020
Area District Urban % Nos % Nos % Nos

SqKm Population Population Total Total Total
2010 2010 Pop Pop Pop
URBAN 50 40 30
KIGALI CITY ?? 40 20 10
Gasabo 429 530,453 ??
Kicukiro 167 343,940 ??
Nyarugenge 134 392,217 ??
DISTRICT
CENTERS 10 15 15
Burera 644 406,328 ??
Bugesera 1,290 337,943 ??
Gakenke 704 407,954 ??
Gatsibo 922 359,074 ??
Gicumbi 829 455,677 ??
Gisagara 679 328,643 ??
Huye 581 336,259 ??
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N A T I O N A L L A N D U S E D E V E L O P M E N T M A S T E R P L A N H O U S I N G A N D
U R B A N I Z A T I O N
Kamonyi 655 331,053 ??
Karongi 992 353,358 ??
Kayonza 1,934 265,671 ??
Kirehe 1,184 290,683 ??
Muhanga 647 363,840 ??
Musanze 530 388,997 ??
Ngoma 867 297,829 ??
Ngororero 679 357,545 ??
Nyabihu 531 339,959 ??
Nyagatare 1,919 323,158 ??
Nyamagabe 1,090 354,704 ??
Nyamasheke 1,173 411,741 ??
Nyanza 672 285,288 ??
Nyaruguru 1,010 296,665 ??
Rubavu 388 370,724 ??
Ruhango 626 311,414 ??
Rulindo 567 318,296 ??
Rusizi 958 420,504 ??
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N A T I O N A L L A N D U S E D E V E L O P M E N T M A S T E R P L A N H O U S I N G A N D
U R B A N I Z A T I O N
Rutsiro 1,157 334,883 ??
Rwamagana 682 279,325 ??
OTHER
URBAN
AREAS ?? 0 5 5
RURAL ?? 50 60 70
UMUDUGUDU
VILLAGES ?? 10 30 50
OTHER
RURAL ?? 40 30 20
Total ?? 100 100 100
Red: High total population

Scenario,
Green; Low total population

Scenario
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R W A N D A N A T I O N A L L A N D U S E D E V E L O P M E N T M A S T E R P L A N H O U O S I N G A N D U R B A N I Z A T I O N
Planning Standards for a Sustained District Center Education: (At least) One tertiary education facility: University branch, technical
collage, etc. should be located in the Center.
in a ‘Green Scenario’ Context
The Umudugudu policy needs to be complemented with a ‘decentralized’ modular Health: A district hospital shall provide secondary health services to the Center and
urbanization strategy, ‘UMUJYJI,’ to prevent hazardous and uncontrolled the District population.
migration from the rural areas into Kigali City. Attractive Districts Centers have to be
established to meet people’s expectation on a life with a quality. Administration: District office with an inviting and ‘transparent’ architectural design
and a multi-purpose community hall should be found in the District Center.
The following features are proposed for a modern District Center by year 2020:
Commercial: A pedestrian friendly shopping area with a market place should be
An Urban Development Plan (UDP) shall be prepared for the layout of the District centrally located in the Center.
Center, consulted and approved following the guidelines in the Plan,
Culture, sport and recreation: A sport and recreation area shall be zoned,
Location: The Center shall be located on non fertile soil and no permanent accommodating an arena for sports and culture, swimming pool and creative
buildings will be allowed on slopes more than 20 degrees or where flooding occurs. playground.
Population: The Center should accommodate 20,000 -100.00 inhabitants which Protection: A District court, a District police station and a fire station would e the
corresponds to about 30 % of the respective District total population. basis for a secure and safe living environment for the Center and the District as a
whole.
Housing: Areas of Low, medium and (moderate) high residential density should be
zoned for.
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Industrial: Areas with non-polluting small-scale industries should be included to Sewerage: A functional system offers good hygienic provisions.
have self-self sufficient local production of basic goods.
Solid waste: A landfill area with a biogas digester and a recycle center shall be
Transportation: Regular public transport with gas powered vehicles shall be located in an environmentally safe place.
provided for the inhabitants. A bus terminal for regional public transportation should
be zoned for at a conflict free location.
ICT. The Center shall be provided with a fiber optic network.
Energy: The Center shall be connected with the national electrical grid. Own
energy production: Biogas, hydro, solar panels, etc. corresponding to about?? % of
total shall be generated locally.
Water: Potable water will be distributed to all due via pipes or water posts. Rain
water harvesting shall be a mandatory requirement for construction of new housing.
Guidelines – Urbanization
A modern concept for district development planning should be
introduced – Integrated (District) Development Planning- that
can assist in creating a sustainable balance between urban and
rural in a District.
A modern concept for urban planning should be introduced –

Urban Development Plans – to design attractive District Centres
to prevent pressure and uncontrolled migration to Kigali City in
the future.
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have regularly updated urban master plans and specific land management plans.
Housing The country will develop basic infrastructure in urban centres and in other
development poles, enabling the decongestion of agricultural zones. The proportion
of those living in towns and cities will increase from 10% in 2000 to 30% in 2020
Introduction
(from 5% in 1995). The income differential between towns and rural areas should
Housing in its comprehensive and broader meaning is not only the provision of
remain within reasonable proportions, due to the decentralization of economic
dwelling itself but rather a physical environment that guarantees protection, safety
activities to the country.
and easy access to work, school and entertainment facilities. Therefore, housing
presents a wide variety of issues of a social, political, economic and technical The National Investment Strategy particularly places emphasis on the support of
nature. Thus, for adequate housing development, a variety of inputs and resources the private sector into housing sector. The consolidation of efforts between
are needed. When we analyze housing we do it just for urban (built-up) areas. Government and various development partners will ensure realization of the
programs of the sector. The development of Urban Master Plans and the
Pillar number four of the Rwanda Vision 2020, pursues a harmonious policy of
construction of basic infrastructure on allotted sites will enable investors to orient
grouped settlements based on economic activity. Rural settlements organized into
their investments (industrial parks, tourist zones, commercial areas and residential
active development centres will be equipped with basic infrastructure and services.
areas.)
This system of settlement will serve as an entry point into the development of
nonagricultural income generating activities. Land will be reorganized and The Rwandan Government has made all efforts to put in place a conducive
consolidated so as to create adequate space for modern and viable farming. investment regime in order to attract foreign direct investment bearing in mind the
Rwanda is characterized by low but accelerating urbanization. This has happened package of benefits it brings and the positive impacts it generates on the economy.
in a rapid and uncoordinated manner, meaning that social services and
employment opportunities are lagging behind. From now until 2010, each town will
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The investment code enhances the competitiveness of Rwanda as an investment less or no subsidies on construction materials to facilitate the
hub which leads to quality production in goods and services. implementation of the policy.
Housing standard and costs are not related to the household income and ability to
Before 2004, Rwanda has never had a coherent policy incorporating all the
pay. In reality, housing needs and preferences vary in accordance with each
elements of the human settlement sector. The essential actions carried out in this
household’s individual income, size, socio-cultural needs and environmental
field since 1962 consisted of housing units built for government employees in
situation. The present situation illustrates a number of difficulties in the housing
administrative centers and real estate credit for the construction of individual
sector:
houses. These actions affected only a small part of the population. Other dwellings
were built from the savings of individuals, both in urban and rural areas
Relatively high costs of land, construction materials, and labor;
Present Situation
The housing sector in Rwanda is important and growing. The demand for housing Financial resources and loans for housing are limited;
in Rwanda is larger than the present supply. Housing conditions and housing
standards need to be improved as well as building standards and building Scarcity of planned land in major towns supplied with infrastructure
for housing;
materials. The building industry is growing and needs to adapt to the situation of
future demand. In chapter 6, Economy and Labor Market, this is described more in
Shortage of locally produced building materials;
detail.
Breakdown in utility and water supply services;
There are a number of reasons for the unsuccessful supplying of housing. Housing
polices have been dominated by the view that housing is in short supply, and
Lack of maintenance and management of housing compounds,
therefore policies should be directed towards providing as many new units as
apartment houses and high-rise buildings. Informal Settlements.
possible within a given period of time, without paying necessary attention to quality
aspects. Such short-term and fluctuating policies have resulted in wasted
opportunities and distorted priorities. In addition, the Rwandan housing situation
has not yet been fully documented. Proposed housing investment overshoots the
available resources in the field of labor and building materials. if you take the case
of imidigudu policy implementation, it has encountered several challenges:
there is no clear line of implementation where the population is

required to build their own houses without considering the levels of
poverty in rural areas;
important also is the cost benefit from land consolidation to the new
sites,
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Informal settlement can be defined as residential areas which have developed

without legal claims to the land and/or permission from the concerned
authorities to build; as a result of their illegal or semi-legal status, infrastructure
and services are usually inadequate.
Informal settlements are dense settlements comprising communities housed in

self constructed shelters under conditions of informal or traditional land tenure.
As such they are characterized by a dense proliferation of small, make-shift
shelters built from diverse materials, degradation of the local ecosystem and
by severe social problems.
Informal settlements occur when the current land administration and planning
fails to address the needs of the whole community. These areas are
characterized by rapid, unstructutured and unplanned development.
Upgrading or Bulldozing
An informal estimate from Kigali City Council (February 2007) is that 78 % of the
Figure 9: Mode of Upgrading of Predominant Informal Settlements
City’s population live in informal settlements – another estimate is given by the
national census 2002. not all of which are illegal, but include a range of tenure
statuses and provisions of infrastructural conditions. Ways of upgrading such
existing settlements, be it in Kigali or elsewhere, within a participatory and
sustainable spatial planning framework is a key issue for the future.
Due to the growing demand for housing in urban areas and the rapid development
of slums (Utujagari), planning and organized settlement are becoming a
complicated issue. Moreover, it appears that urbanization of principal urban centers
in Rwanda resulted more from accumulation of the population often of rural origin,
around the structured urban areas and not from within, thus generating perimeters
of sub-urbanized zones where the density reaches 700 people/km². This
spontaneous growth of urban centre has led to the breakdown of social functions
and spatial segregation, with land wastage that blocks any attempts for sustainable
development. (National Housing Policy 2008).
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As no comprehensive methodology to upgrade and revitalize informal settlements Facilitate the access to housing finance for low and middle income
has been found in Rwanda, the Plan proposes an approach, which is based on people;
successful ‘formalisation’ project that has been undertaken bay Swedesurvey. The
methodology is drafted after the Housing Guidelines. Establish guidelines on the upgrading of informal settlements and
put in place legal and regulatory measures to ensure that
Previous Planning and Policies expropriations if required are carried out in line with internationally
Since independence year 1962, urban planning and development were not given acceptable norms;
much attention. Thus taking into account the rapid and uncontrolled development of
the sector, and its potential contribution towards the socio-economic development Decentralize the registration of land titles to ease the acquisition of
of the country, the Rwandan Government in 2008 made a decision to formulate an land plots.
urban housing policy which is geared towards achieving its development goals. Quality
In the aftermath of the Genocide of the 1994, the central government gradually took
Under the Urban Housing Policy, the government aims to execute the following
more responsibility for the provision of quality housing to the disadvantaged groups
policy actions:
of the population in order to promote social and economic objectives. With the
shortages created by the War the need for the central government to get more
Develop programmes aimed at providing urban housing for a cross-
heavily involved in boosting housing supply and ensuring adequate standards for
section of the population;
lower income groups became increasingly apparent. Post war reconstruction often
Establish minimum standards in the construction of housing with involved large volumes of central government financed housing targeted at those
respect to construction codes and provision of adequate basic who were unable to afford decent housing from their own resources.
facilities such as water and sanitation, access to reliable power
The quality of the Rwandan housing stock has been greatly improved over the last
sources, and basic social amenities within easy reach of
15 years. About 70 % of current houses in urban areas were built after 1994, 25%
residential areas;
of the entire housing stock is supplied with electricity. 5.4 % of the households have
Provide the legal and regulatory framework to encourage private bathrooms, 12 % has kitchens. Solutions adopted for the sewage differ
sector participation in the development of urban housing vis-à-vis substantially. Less than 0 % of the houses are incorporated in a municipal
the development of housing estates; sewerage system and more than 44 % have septic tanks.(Rwanda demographic
and health survey 2005)
Facilitate the development of housing stock in order to cater for
increase demand for ownership and short term occupation; Climatic Aspects
The hot climate of Rwanda requires buildings designed with attention to
Establish “owner-occupier” housing under affordable mortgage environmental restrictions. Otherwise, energy consumption will be high and costly.
schemes guaranteed by employers, both public and private; Ventilation, solar radiation and building materials should take into account the
climatic limitations. Today the new buildings in most cases are constructed in a
Develop and establish tax incentive schemes to encourage people contrary way, with low grade of isolation, wrong orientation and design not
to obtain housing loans;
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respecting the hilly character. This leads to high-energy consumption for cooling
and heating.
In traditional urban design, settlements tend to be clustered. This traditional way of

building is often neglected in modern planning of Rwanda. In new areas houses are
often spread out. Shadowed passageways and lanes are missing. Dwellings are
surrounded by gardens instead of courtyards and have low energy efficiency.
There is lack of modern concepts which introduce features separating the interior of
the building from the outdoor environment. This thinking should be introduced in the
country.
In urban areas environmental friendly building materials are hardly used at all.
Walls are not sufficiently dense and thick and cannot protect the buildings from the
heat. Traditional and local materials with tried-out high isolation efficiency are not
used. Modern materials with good isolation qualities are neither developed nor in
use.
Most house designs in Kigali have a square floor area and purposed for flat land
environment. Many urban areas should be having designs that are adjusted to the
hilly character to avoid slide hazardous.
Occupancy Rate and Size

Topographic Aspects The basic residential unit is the extended family which usually consists of three
generations, i.e. children, parents and grandparents, living either together or in a
Figure 10: Topographic Aspects complex of adjacent houses. The increasing role of the independent family is a
product of both economic progress and the influence of modern urban values which
are significantly challenging traditional attitudes and ideas. Social and physical
changes in size and composition of the family units will be major determinants of
the future housing policy.
1991 a majority of the citizens live in dwellings which are considered too small in
relation to the household size, and overcrowding is common. Traditional courtyard
houses offer some extension of usable floor area. This relates mainly to the local
low-income housing where the yard is used for meals, for children’s play and
sometimes for work.
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According to Census 2002 Rwanda General Population and Housing (RGPH),

a majority of the houses, some?? %, consisted of 1-3 rooms . The average
household size is about 4.6 persons, but there are significant differences in
household sizes. The degree of overcrowding is obvious, taken into account
that 45% of the dwellings in urban areas housed 5.0 persons or more. Land
use differences in occupation rates show that the highest % of overcrowding
in Rwanda occurs in Kigali. Some 86.6% of households in Rwanda own the
dwelling units in which they are lodging. In the particular case of Kigali City,
47.2% of the households reside in rented premises while 42.7% are owner-
occupiers, It is evident that the situation of ownership of housing sort of Even in modern urbanization the type has been used, often in order to provide
worsened between 1991 and 2002 since the proportion of households which housing on small building lots. The courtyard house is well adapted to the Rwandan
owned dwelling units in which they resided declined from 91.8% to 86.4% climate, but low quality building material, non-existing isolation and poor windows
while the proportion of those in rented premises increased from 3.6% to 6.4%. offer a large potential for improvement.
The dominant type of housing in Rwanda is an isolated residence which comprises DETACHED HOUSES
some 63.6% of all the dwelling units in the country. The new type of agglomerations
(umudugudu) which is being introduced since the 1990s house about 19.3% of the This more modern type is characterized by a freestanding building on the plot with
households. However, this type of housing is more predominant in some Provinces possibility to catch daylight from all sides. This type requires larger lots than the
than in others, particularly in the Eastern Province and informal housing (utujagari) courtyard type. The buildings may be big enough to harbor more than one
appears to be very common in Kigali City where it lodges some 59.6% of all the apartment. Even these houses often have a courtyard, serving as a private outdoor
households. room. The urban density is often much lower in modern residential areas with
detached houses than in the traditional residential areas with courtyard houses. But
Types of Buildings in central parts of the towns, where the detached houses have two or three floors,
The wide variety of dwelling types in Rwanda is related to a number of factors, the density may be similar to that of traditional residential areas.
including climatic variation, available building materials, building techniques, local
Figure 12: Detached Houses in Kigali.
traditions, socio-economic conditions and building costs. The main types of
dwellings are the following..
TRADITIONAL
Most of the walls of dwelling units in Rwanda are built with unplastered swish and
mud or with sun-dried bricks. The walls of dwelling units in Kigali City are also
predominantly made of these materials but major improvements include
cementing/plastering of mud/swish walls and use of burnt bricks.
Figure 11: Traditional House

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Desirable Housing Standard

The Building Control and Regulations which have been adopted by the cabinet at
its session of 11th March, 2009 will be a nationally recognized document, which will
serve as a standard reference for the regulation of building design and construction.
It is based on British Standards and Specifications as laid out by the British
Standards Institution of the United Kingdom and should be interpreted in
conjunction with the standard building specifications in use in the country. The
major benefits to be gained in applying this document are the harmonization of
professional practice in the building construction industry in Rwanda and
curtailment of informal developments so as to ensure well planned, well-
maintained, safe, cost effective and decent building
Developments and housing settlements throughout the country. (Rwanda Building

Control and Regulation 2009)
In order to forecast the future need for dwellings, the following basic criteria for a
desirable standard 2020 are defined:
APARTMENT BUILDING
One family per household and dwelling
Apartment buildings may have ten or more floors as well as three and four floors,
with shops and public facilities occupying street level premises. Most of these Average household size should be about 4 persons
apartment blocks are found in new residential areas, though some are
concentrated along main centre streets. Average number of persons per room will decrease to about 1.5
Average number of bedrooms per dwelling could be 2-4

Present and Future Housing Standards
Dwelling Size Average bedroom area could be 12-24 sqM
A dwelling has to satisfy the needs of a large number of activities such as cooking,
eating, sleeping, conversation, entertainment, washing, childcare, religious Average kitchen area could be 12-16 sqM
observance and home crafts. In all this, space is of primary importance and its
effective use and organization is basic to the success of any housing unit. Setting A guest room area could be 16-20 sqM
standards such as minimum floor space per person and per family is an attempt to
recognize this important criterion; such norms vary widely between different Taking into consideration the average household size in 2020 and the desirable
residential areas. Certainly, there is no universally acceptable standard. housing standard, it can be deduced that the average floor space per dwelling
could be some 192 sqM. It seems reasonable to assume that future space
standard after 2020 may increase from 1.5 people per room to 1.2 people per room
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in the long run, and that demand for floor space could increase gradually from 192 The outdoor environment around apartment buildings should be arranged
sqM to keep pace with improving income levels. On the other hand, the average satisfactory, with well-maintained parks cape, playgrounds and organized parking.
family size can be expected to decrease further. The conclusion is that future
housing supply should aim at producing housing units for families not smaller than More types of apartment buildings should be elaborated to be compatible with a
192 sqM and that a certain share should have the size of some 120 or 140 sqM. range of different urban environments and sites. High-rise buildings could be
recommended in central parts of the large towns. Low-rise buildings are easier
Housing Costs adaptable to small towns and metropolitan suburbs. A segregation of housing for
The current cost of construction is estimated at $400 per sqM. Most new houses the well-off inhabitants and “social” housing for low-income families should be
cost as much as more than 10 times the annual family income in the lowest income avoided.
group. UN literature indicates that households are capable of affording only 2.5
times the annual collective income.1 Available surveys indicate that families in Figure 13: Apartment Booking in Kigali.
urban areas spend as much as more than 50 % of their expenditure on housing.
However, the minimum standard of accommodation, the proposed desirable
standard, can only be attained by ?? % of the population at present. A desirable
housing standard should relate to future expectations rather than to current
demands and conditions, taking into consideration not only existing situation but
also future income levels.
Types of Buildings
Traditions, with related families living together, give a low degree of mobility within
the housing stock. Instead of moving to a larger dwelling when the family grows, it
is common to extend the house to satisfy the need for more space. Consequently,
there is a need for progressive housing. Such dwellings should initially be capable
of providing necessary accommodation but, in order to meet family growth, be of a
design that facilitates expansion.
The traditional and detached house types can develop and change according to the
needs of households. Adding additional rooms on the same level and extra floors to Building Techniques
a house are relatively simple jobs, when and if the need and economic possibility is There are environmental as well as economic reasons to improve building methods
at hand. The apartment buildings are by nature inflexible. Need for more living and building quality. A higher investment cost (for insulation, double windows, solar
space can only be satisfied by moving to another dwelling. collectors for hot water etc) can result in far lower costs of operation in terms of
energy and water consumption. This also gives the prospect of better and more
stable indoor climate.
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Residential Areas The figures released from the general population and human settlement census
The residential areas do not consist of dwellings only. They should also include (August 2002) show that the resident urban population increased very rapidly from
roads, parking spaces, green areas, children parks, super-markets and other 391,194 in 1991 to 1,362,312 inhabitants in 2002, representing an increase from
commercial services, service for education and health, religious buildings and 5.5% to 16.7% of the total population of Rwanda. According to statistical
sporting grounds. The quality should be improved for green areas, open spaces, projections, in 2020 the urbanization rate will be 29%, that is to say 3 357 310
and recreation areas. The parking should be well organized in the apartment habitants of urban population, representing an average of 123 839 urban habitants
housing areas and street parking should not be allowed for residential purpose. per year (3 357 310-1 747 403=1 609 907 over a period of 13 years); and for the
city of Kigali (45%) or 55 728 habitants a year.
Figure 14: The Outdoor Environment Should not be Neglected in Residential
Areas with High-rise Apartment Buildings This high increase is mainly due to natural growth of the urban population, the
recent demarcation of the boundaries of most of the towns which has taken in
areas which have typical rural features, increased post-genocide rural migration
and international immigration. Considering the objective to achieve 30% of
urbanization, the urban population shall be 3 609 162 habitants in 2020,
representing 4.5 times greater that the current population of Kigali City. In terms of
this growth, one can observe a strong population imbalance between the city of
Kigali and the other urban centers. Therefore, in coming 13 years there will be a
need to develop and furnish urban centers for a population which is 4 times greater
than the current population of Kigali city. This demographic explosion has created
huge housing needs.
Kigali City is the main destination for over 40% of migrants to and within Rwanda
and is growing at annual rate of more than 5.4%. Because growth is occurring so
fast and because urban planning and real estate development are new to Kigali,
most people are in need of housing. Since Kigali is approaching a potential crisis
There are ambitious physical planning standards for the outdoors environment in situation due to the shortage of affordable housing units, therefore there is need for
Rwanda but implementation is generally neglected. developers like Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) to continue investing in
quality and affordable housing. Below is a table that shows population of Kigali and
the growth forecast up to 2020.
Demand for Housing
The definition of a household is based on the social and economic unit of the Table 4: Population Growth Forecast for Kigali City
family. A family consists of a group of people living in the same household and
related to each other by birth, marriage, or adoption. Not all households contain
families since a household may comprise a group of unrelated people or one
person living alone.
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District Pop-2005 Pop-2012 Pop-2020 Growth Rate economic dynamism, and a producer of social and human capital, not simply a
provider of shelter.
Gasabo 395,430 595,285 922,923 5.65%
The most common type of housing settlement in Rwanda is the scattered isolated
Kicukiro 217,899 351,636 577,340 6.58%
housing pattern which is home to 63.9% of all households and to 64.4% of the
Nyarugenge 265,060 349,396 488,301 4.05% resident population. This housing pattern consists of isolated dwelling units fairly
Total : 878,389 1,296,317 1,988,564 5.43%
distant from each other and surrounded by family farms. It typifies the rural
landscape in (housing 68.2% of all the rural dwelling units and 68% of the rural
Source: Kigali City Master Plan 2007 population) while in the urban areas, it houses 40.3% of the households and 40.5%
of the population The following table shows distribution of housing units by type and
families.
Overall, the population of Kigali city grows by an average of 5%. It is projected that
the number of people residing in Rwanda’s capital will number about 2 million Table 5: Distribution of Housing Types and Households by Number of
people by 2020 in all the 3 districts of Gasabo, Nyarugenge and Kicukiro, hence the Families in Rwanda
increasing need for more commercial and residential real estate.
Urban Rural Total
The real estate sector has been growing significantly in Rwanda for the last 5
years. It grew by 351% from 2003 to 2008 according to statistics from the Rwanda
Development Board (RDB). The number of people in the country demanding for
Households
Households
Households
Type of Housing
Population
Population
Population
commercial buildings and residential housing is steadily increasing given the
constant rise in numbers of middle income earners and the overall Rwandan
business development. It is envisioned by the government as indicated by the
policy paper of vision 2020 that Rwanda will be a middle income service based Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
economy. Therefore it is prudent that businesses set their targets to fit cohesively
within this strategy. This is evidenced by the increasing demand for construction Grouped housing
materials that is now close to 20% of GDP, which is about USD $ 600 million (Imidugudu) 8.9 8.9 21.3 20.7 19.4 18.8
(Rwanda Development Board Statistics). Former grouped housing 6.0 5.8 5.8 5.9 5.8 5.9
Isolated housing 40.3 40.5 68.2 68.8 63.9 64.4
From the survey carried out for the Kigali City Master Plan, most people desire
medium standing category houses for residential housing. The commercial Planned housing 6.5 7.9 0.2 0.2 1.2 1.4
involvement in the real estate production is still not yet well developed.
Informal/unplanned
housing 35.0 33.5 1.6 1.6 6.8 6.6
The creation of a new construction industry is not the only linkage between housing
and economic growth: Shelter can be seen as both a necessity and as an Other type of housing 3.2 3.4 2.9 2.9 3.0 2.9
economic generator in multiple ways. By the judicious planning and layout of Source RGPH Census 2002
housing in the larger context of the urban plan, it can become an engine of
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The existence of a high proportion of isolated housing even in the urban areas of Table 6: Number of Households and Housing Units in Thousands According
the country may be attributable to the recent administrative reforms which extended to Different Scenarios, 2020
the limits of urban agglomerations to cover areas which are still largely rural in
nature. Thus, some parts of Kigali City and large portions of some urban districts 2020
are found to still have scattered isolated settlements which are typical of the rural Low Growth High Growth
domain even though they are integral parts of the towns.
Households 3017.2 3272.8
There is however a marked change in the configuration of housing types in Housing Units 3017.2 3272.8
Rwanda when compared with the situation in 1991. The proportion of isolated
housing has declined from 76.3% in 1991 to 63.6% in 2002. This can be explained Source, Census 2002
by the recent Government policy launched since 1994, aimed at encouraging and Demand
generalizing residence in grouped settlements or village centers called On the basis of the urban growth rate, the annual housing requirement in Kigali is
« imidugudu » especially in the rural areas. The purpose is to find lasting solutions estimated at between 8,500 and 10,000 units. The annual need for the rest of the
to the settlement of repatriated refugees, to more rationally manage agricultural urban centres is estimated at 15,000 units. It has been established that, in 2002
land, to be able to provide some basic facilities more conveniently to rural and 2003 combined, the public and private sectors contributed only 10% in terms of
populations, etc. development of plots restricted to the middle and high incomes categories. This
situation has not improved much to date. The low income group had maintained the
The proportion of households living in grouped housing settlements (old or new) practice of informal housing development in unplanned areas. This situation has
increased from 17% to 25% in Rwanda and from 18% to 27% in the rural areas of had the following consequences:
the country. (RGPH census 2002)
In Rwanda the average number of families per housing unit has decreased from 8
in 1991 to 3-6 in 2002. Unfortunately though, the official production figures are not The increase in the load factor in the unplanned areas;
very reliable since they do not include houses built without permission in rural areas
(and urban areas). Data available from the Census show that today there are Increase in the extent of unplanned areas.
slightly more dwellings than number of families. One explanation could be that The estimation of housing needs during 2010-2020 is based on the 2002 housing
more and more families have more than one house. Other than the everyday stock of Rwanda of about 10,000-15,000 units.2 In relation to the total number of
residence, some families have country houses or so called farms. families in 2002, i.e. 609,031, there seems to be a slight surplus of dwellings and
the occupancy rate in the country is in average 0.99 households per dwelling.
With reference to the current number of families, current number of dwellings,

future need to replace part of the housing stock, and population scenarios, the
future demand of housing has been calculated. The total demand for housing for
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the low growth scenario for the period 2010-2020 is estimated to be between 8,500 Table 7: Major Developments Done and On-going between 2005 to 2009 in
to 10,000 dwelling units. Kigali City.
The need for new housing during 2010 to 2020 for the high growth scenario can be Developer Project location Number of Status
estimated to be about 100,000 - 250,000 units. This would imply a total annual units
production of 10,000 – 25,000 housing units during 2020. Social Security Fund Gaculiro 300 Completed and
of Rwanda (SSFR) inhabited
Housing Supply
Idem Kacyiru 50 Completed and
The amount of new dwellings needed of Rwanda in the future, increased demand inhabited
for commercial buildings and new infrastructure, creates great demand for
construction industry and building material industry, but also for financing of Rwanda Housing Kagugu 250 Phase I comprising 52
housing. Bank completed and sold
out, rest on-going
The demand for housing in Rwanda today is quite high. In Kigali City alone, the Idem Kimisange 350 Selling
Council puts demand estimates at about 100,000 homes required to narrow the Real Contractors Rusororo 500 Phase I of 280 nearing
gap. The Central Bank says 25,000 new mortgages need to be generated every completion
year.
Idem Kagugu 21 Completed and sold
out
Conservatives believe that at an annual increase of 10%, it comes to 10,000 units
per year. These numbers refer to the affordable housing category (low, medium to Idem Nyarutarama 18 Idem
medium-high income earners). Here we would be looking at targeting homes that Idem Kinyinya 300 Planning phase
would sell at prices ranging from 25,000 USD to 100,000 USD. These would be
sold off plan with the adequate marketing and packaging. Kigali Top Mountain Gaculiro 65 Nearing completions
and sold out
DN International Masaka 28 Completed and sold
out
Idem Rusororo 75 Ongoing
Orchard Developers Gisozi 600 Planning phase
Total 2585
From the table above, it is quite obvious that the supply is way below the demand
figures shown earlier.
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burnt bricks and gravel. Other building components are not locally available and are
imported. Since shortage of construction materials is a limiting factor for the building
Labour Force industry the production has to be increased primarily of material based on natural
The first bottleneck is an insufficient labour force and its low level of education. raw materials available in the country. Cement is to a large extent imported in spite
Labour shortage forms a serious restriction for the housing output and quality of available domestic capacity for cement production. The utilization in the local
today. The construction industry contributes to this situation by clinging to traditional industry is low.
building methods, which are wasteful of manpower, as workers frequently change
their jobs. The estimation is that the size of the labour force in the building and Ecological Building
construction sector has to increase considerably. An increase to 30% from the Buildings should be designed in a manner where architectural solutions show
current 7.2% can become necessary during the coming 10 years. consideration for climate and environment. Existing site conditions should be
respected and local wildlife and vegetation preserved. Local materials should be
Table 8: Employment in Building and Construction Industry during 2010- used and water recycled and conserved. Techniques should be used to bring
2020 According to High and Low Growth Scenarios consumption of energy to a minimum for cooling and heating of building. Use of
passive solar design should be promoted. Energy in the housing sector is treated in
2010 Low Growth High Growth Chapter 10, Energy.
Scenario Scenario
2020 2020
Building and
7.2% 15% 30%
Construction Industry
Increase, %
Statistics show that the educational level of the labour force of the construction
industry is low. Vocational training centers have to be improved to overcome the
problems of unskilled labour. An important issue is how to get Rwandans to work in
the building and construction industry. With trained Rwandan staff it is also possible
to improve the building methods and achieve higher quality and efficiency.
Conventional training programs and encouraging Rwandans to work in the building

industry would not be enough. Foreign companies should also be encouraged to
use their technical staff for training local construction workers.
Figure 15: The Sun Can Provide Energy for Entire Kigali Residential Areas.
Building Materials
A number of different building materials are manufactured in Rwanda. They are
produced of local raw materials such as cement, timber, lime, gypsum, dried bricks,
3/29/2010
Financing MORTGAGE FINANCE

A housing policy has to be based on an analysis of the dwelling costs related to the
average income of the perspective occupiers or owners. It is necessary to reduce This is one area that has lacked a lot in the past mainly due to lack of access to
the propotion of households unable to afford the minimum cost of housing. The long-term finance. With banks afraid of having a currency mismatch where they
possibilities of subsidies have to be considered in order to house those with lend long-term against short-term funds, only two (02) institutions (Rwanda Housing
insufficient incomes for even the cheapest type of dwelling. The banking system Bank and BCR) are known to have offered long-term mortgages payable in 15-20
should be supplied with possibilities to give loans for building a house, possibly with years at attractive interest rates.
reduction of interest costs.
Traditionally banks such as Banque Populaire du Rwanda and Zigama CSS (this
A rough analysis of costs compared to income indicates that the cheapest new institution started as a credit and savings scheme for the military but has since
dwellings are beyond the financial reach of most households. A housing policy evolved quite tremendously) are the ones that offered mortgage facilities to their
therefore should ensure that different groups will live in planned communities, clients. The challenge was the repayment period would not exceed eight years.
supplied with social and technical infrastructure. Social housing should be
considered for those with the lowest family income. It is important to note that currently, other players have expressed interest in
offering mortgages. The main players are KCB, BK and the others offering ordinary
CONSTRUCTION FINANCE housing loans at commercial rates.
Rwanda has not been spared by the current global financial downturn. However, Housing Policy and Regulations
owing to the massive need and Government willingness to address the acute The challenging mission to supply the growing population of Rwanda with enough
housing shortage, several initiatives have been done to resolve this standoff and it affordable, healthy and good quality housing requires a reformation of the
has already started paying off. Such initiatives include: governmental housing policy in fields like modernized construction industry,
improved building technology, better skilled labour and more efficient building
Government has availed a long-term facility to the banks enabling them have more processes.
liquidity and hence not crippling their operations. This facility is remunerated quite
attractively; Current Housing Policy
The present housing policy in Rwanda is formulated as
An enabling environment has been set up to attract foreign banks that are
financially solid to acquire licenses in Rwanda. This has paid off well for new follows:
monies are brought into the economy hence more businesses. Some of the new The National Urban Housing Policy includes all public interventions within the
banks have strong backgrounds in financing housing development; framework of the urbanization process of Rwanda in order to constitute the urban
structures at national and provincial level, to improve urban management, control
The average construction loan would attract an interest rate of 14.5% per annum development, and the spatial expansion of cities, particularly urban centres using
and the repayment period is mainly hinged on the length of the construction, effective planning tools. The development and adoption of the National Urban
normally 12-36 months depending on the size of the project. Housing Policy aims at guiding Government objectives and priorities in line with the
objectives as laid down particularly in the Vision 2020, the EDPRS, and the
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National Investment Strategy. According to the aims of Vision 2020, about 50% of The National Land Use and Development Master Plan is based on the
the population will live in urban areas with access to basic infrastructure necessary recommendation that both the private sector and the public authorities should play
to ensure sustainable development. active roles in the housing sector and in the supply of housing. A high proportion of
The main objective of the “Urban Housing Policy” of Government is to contribute families are currently unable to afford even a minimum-standard housing unit. Many
towards improving the conditions of living of the urban population through controlled families will require substantial subsidies in order to satisfy their housing demands.
and harmonized development of urban areas and provision of affordable housing to It is unlikely, however, that substantial housing subsidies will be practical unless
all sectors of the population. The Government aims to engage the private sector resources come from the mobilization of under-utilized finances in the private sector
and promote its active participation in driving housing and real estate development as well as from the re-allocation of existing national funds.
in the country. (National Urban Housing Policy 2009)
The Land Policy aims at the controlled and planned spatial growth of towns and the The role for the public sector should be to plan, procure and offer satisfactory
development of housing in general. It aims to promote real estate development housing financing, especially for low-income groups. The public sector should also
activities and the build capacity in land development professionals. The land policy be responsible for supplying low income households with satisfactory housing. The
is also oriented towards encouraging private entities to take part in the marketing of main role for the private sector should be housing construction. The households
land plots within the municipalities. One strategic option of the Land Policy is the currently living in sub-standard dwellings should be helped to improve their present
promotion of the construction of high rise buildings a process that would effectively resident and living condition. The further role of the public sector should be to
require the improvement of expertise in the design and construction of such provide infrastructure, both technical and social.
structures.
Summarizing, the policy stresses the co-operation of the public and private
Housing, besides being a very basic requirement for the urban population, also institutions and the families themselves in implementing housing programs. The
holds the key to accelerate the pace of development. Investment in housing, like level of state involvement will depend on the income levels, in that full assistance is
any other industry, has a multiplier effect on income and employment. It is necessary for those of the lowest socio-economic rank. For others the government
estimated that overall employment generation in the economy due to investment in acts as a supporter of the private sector.
housing construction is eight times that of direct employment. The construction
industry, which comprises the building, transport infrastructure, and civil AFFORDABLE HOUSING
engineering sectors, plays a very important role in the national economy. It is
estimated that half of non-agriculture employment is directly or indirectly provided More than 93 % of the low-income families will not be in a position to pay even for
by the construction industry. It provides the physical infrastructure that is key to the the least expensive housing units now being initiated by the public sector. A direct
country’s economic development while its activities create business opportunities public housing provision is imperative. The supply of new public housing depends
for suppliers and manufacturers and at the same time, provides employment for largely on the district housing authorities. Most public housing is put up for sale at
professionals, semi and unskilled labor.(Rwanda National Construction Policy very low rates and some housing units are given for free to low-income families, but
2009) the supply of public housing is low compared to the demand.
Proposed Policy It is not realistic to believe that available financial resources will suffice for a large
Public and Private Enrolment in Housing and growing public housing sector, especially not when managed by the district
housing authorities. A more realistic policy should be directed towards a balanced
and selective intervention by the housing authorities in those areas where the
3/29/2010
needs are greatest, by providing dwellings for those unable to afford a minimum Self-building can include a range of different levels of engagement in the building
standard. process. Some self-builders will mainly make the financial arrangements, acting as
project manager watching their project bloom, and ensuring the self-building goes
Households should be encouraged to exercise their social responsibilities, thus smoothly and efficiently. Other self-builders will get more involved in their house
minimizing the need for public subsidies. Therefore, it is necessary to promote project and engaged in saving labour costs, and a few will carry out all of the
private savings, especially for low-income groups. Home ownership is a unique construction work themselves.
opportunity of saving for most people. The government should introduce a housing
financing system based on mixed public and private operations. The district authorities could act as technical and financial advisors and provide
planned land with technical supply for self-builders. They could also provide the
foundation-laying and the structure for the self-builders to complete.
Rental Market Land Supply and Site Preparation

At present a high portion of houses are privately rented. These houses represent
Many towns suffer from inadequate supply of serviced sites which has encouraged
less than ?? % of the total housing stock in Kigali City and are rented by foreigners
residential land speculation on the few existing ones, and spontaneous sprawl. The
and locals. The private rented sector could play a substantial role for the housing
public sector should lead the urban development by providing sites serviced with
supply based on market incentives. The future role of the private housing sector
paved roads, systems for water, sewage, electricity and telecom as well as facilities
should be considered a policy issue, of importance for the housing delivery system.
for education and health care.
Important issues like quality, environment and maintenance of buildings as well as
dwellings in apartment houses should be solved.
A long-term policy in relation to the privately rented sector may integrate with laying Lack of Data
the foundations for housing co-operatives. The size and functions of housing co-
operatives could be extended with the view of promoting subsidized rented Data to use for important comparative indicators showing distribution,
housing. They may operate under public supervision, thus enabling them to fill the quality, performance, etc. have not been found. Consequently it is not
gap left by the ownership of housing and public housing, particularly in areas of possible to compare inequalities of, for example, the proportion of houses
excessive shortage. Another type of host for rented housing could be non-profit rented by foreigners and locals, trend of urban growth in Rwanda, number
companies, owned by the districts. of people living in informal settlements, built up area / agricultural land, and
number of inhabitants per urban area/ existing housing stock between
SELF-BUILT HOMES Districts, which is a fundamental comparative analysis in a National Plan.
It is therefore recommended that the sector authority make such data
Self-built homes can be an increasing opportunity for low-income families to available so it can be accessible for District Development Plan revision
achieve their own home to a lower cost than otherwise. A self-built home allows the that is due in 2012.
house buyer to purchase their home at cost price, i.e. the cost of the building, of
land for sale, materials and labour. Experiences from other countries show that self-
building tends to save up to 30 % of the value of the finished house.
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authorities should provide dwellings in areas where the needs are

greatest, i.e. for low-income families.
The public sector should continue to provide planned sites for public
and private housing, serviced with paved roads, systems for water,
sewage, electricity and telecom as well as facilities for education and
health care. In addition, the public sector should provide foundation-
laying, structure and advice to promote a self-building sector.
Housing Standard
A desirable housing standard should be established, with the purpose
to make it possible for every family to achieve one affordable housing
unit, taken into account increasing population and income levels.
Guidelines – Housing Progressive subsidies should be introduced for the lowest-income

group of the households as part of an overall housing policy in an
attempt to achieve the desired housing standard.
Housing Policy
Modern versions of the traditional courtyard house should be promoted
An urban housing policy has been established, based on both private -a
and public sector involvement in housing supply and housing single-family house that can develop and change according to the
investments. The main role for the public sector should be to plan, needs of the households - as a cheap and effective method to meet
procure and provide a good financing system. The private sector shortage of space and provide space for future expansion at family
should be responsible for construction of buildings. level.
The central responsibility for the Rwandan housing policy should be Higher building quality, energy conservation and a good indoor climate
assembled in one body – a governmental housing organization – in should be a goal. Operation costs in relation to investments should be
order to concentrate the efforts in the housing sector and to reduce considered much more than is the case today.
inefficiency in control, coordination, implementation and data collection.
The approved standard for green areas, children’s playgrounds,
A long-term production target for the planning period should be to keep social and commercial services and recreation facilities should
up an annual production rate between 10,000 to 25,000 units in order be implemented, and standards should also be established for
to avoid a housing shortage. safe car parking, biking and walking to the houses
The future roles of private and co-operative housing sectors should be

considered issues of importance for the housing supply. Public housing
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Guidelines – Housing Construction area, as well as widely spaced structures to maximize natural
ventilation.
Construction All buildings should be constructed to maximise the saving of energy.
Materials with high isolation effect should be developed and used for
A national educational program should be established to attract and building constructions. Local and environmental friendly materials
train workers in the field of construction. Rwandans should be should be used.
encouraged to work in the construction sector, which should be made
more attractive as a field of work. Water should be conserved and recycled. Solar collectors should heat
the water. Natural light should be utilized to save energy for electrical
Research in the field of building and construction should be carried out lighting. Fresh air should be used for ventilation.
by public authorities and universities to initiate and support
industrialization of construction.
The use of standardized construction techniques, pre-cast concrete Guidelines – Housing Financing
elements and of pre-fabricated industrialized construction techniques
should be increased, traditional building methods improved and on-site Central government financing should be increased by procurement and
pre-fabrication of building components introduced. subsidies to the housing sector, as part of a national housing policy.
The central government should develop a framework and provide
Buildings should be designed in a more sustainable, ecological and incentives to mobilize private capital and household savings into the
energy-saving way, not forgetting tradition, climate and environment. housing sector, in order to augment financial resources.
A domestic modern industry for pre-fabricated building parts and A subsidized lending system with progressive repayment measures
concrete blocks should be established, in order to reduce costs and should be introduced for low-income groups, in order to cover the gap
dependence on imports. This should include privatisation of between the borrower’s income and the cost of minimum required
companies, support from local capital and promotion of direct foreign housing standard. Mortgage credit facilities should be linked to the
investment. desired housing standards and the total costs of dwellings, not merely
to household income.
Market incentive systems should be introduced in order to promote
private contracting firms and a more efficient building industry. A modern banking system should be introduced in order to facilitate for
families with an ordinary income to afford a house or dwelling of their
own.
Ecological building
Buildings should always be adapted to climatic and site conditions.
Orientation and clustering should be determined to minimize sun
exposure. Sharing walls should be used to reduce the exposed surface
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Informal systems are the main channels of supplying housing land.

In the past they enabled all but the poorest people to access land
for self-managed house construction.
Today, non-commercial channels for obtaining land are restricted

and the vast majority of those who obtain land through informal
channels purchase it. Access to land, therefore, is restricted mainly
to middle and upper income households.
Proposed Methodology for Informal Most women members of indigenous groups only obtain access to
land through men, but women with means can buy informally
Settlement Upgrading subdivided land.
Informal Housing and Settlements in Africa – an Informal land delivery systems do and should play a significant and
effective role in urban residential land delivery but their
Overview
shortcomings should also be identified and addressed:
Between 50 and 70 percent of land for housing in African cities is supplied
informally. The social institutions that regulate transactions in land and relations To encourage investment in both owner-occupied and rental
between the actors involved are a mix of formal, customary and informal rules. housing, the tenure security available to those who access land
Attempts to improve urban land administration often fail, partly because the social through informal delivery channels should be enhanced;
rules governing how people act in land markets are poorly understood.
Governments should provide at least short-term security to
In large and medium cities the following characteristics can be identified: residents in informal settlements and, in the vast majority of cases,
cease to evict settlers and demolish houses;
Formal public or private land delivery systems provide only a limited
supply of plots which are rarely accessible to poor people. Security and formal land administration can be enhanced by public
sector agencies accepting innovations in procedures and
Informal land delivery systems are partly a continuation of earlier documentation that have emerged in informal systems;
‘customary’ land administration practices and partly a response to
the failures of the formal tenure and administration systems.
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The poor layouts and services that often characterize informal One way of cultivating such legitimacy is to make the processes of data acquisition
settlements can be addressed by acknowledging the existence of and information management participatory and transparent. To further enhance the
such areas, permitting work with subdividers to improve layouts and legitimacy of the information, it is also important that community members are able
enable the early provision of basic services; to understand it.
Registering occupiers enables governments to generate tax

revenues and charge users for services;
Formal land administration should be decentralized, in particular to

provide for local registration of land rights and transactions.
To deter informal subdivision revised compensation provisions are needed,

requiring government to pay adequate compensation when it expropriates land
from private or customary rights holders.
Informal settlements are complex, dynamic social systems that, in many cases,
experience continual change. In occupying land informally, residents are often
prepared to flout the law in the hope of improving their lives. Accordingly, there are Figure 16: Conceptual Idea
a few general characteristics that an external agent should be aware of prior to
intervening in a particular settlement. In general, in an informal settlement, the
internal social and political dynamics tend to be characterized by both solidarity and
schism. While solidarity may prevail in dealings with the external agents, schisms
occur within community groupings in the implementation of deals made with the
authorities and in the day-to-day operation of a settlement. The quality of leadership
and the power wielded by community leaders is an important factor in upgrading
projects. In many cases, it is naïve to think that a project can be set up that will
“solve the problem” on time and within a defined budget. While recognizing that
such situations can at best be alleviated rather than solved, both social and spatial
information are critical in assessing a situation and initiating appropriate strategies
for improvement.
The legal integrity of a system of enforceable agreements requires that official land
tenure records be held to be legitimate by all parties concerned. Otherwise, the
record, and indeed the system, has little value as a land administration resource.
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Tentative Methodology for Informal Settlement

Upgrading
General Description
Models for the development of registered land rights in urban areas will differ
according to the actual situation in the area. In principle the following alternative
situations can be identified:
lImprovement of the registered land rights in areas where formal

rights to land already exist.
Introduction of a registered land rights for new development areas
3. Introduction of a registered land rights in areas with informal

rights to land
3.1. Informal rights recognized by legislation;
3.2. Informal rights based on traditional tenure;
3.3. Informal rights are illegal.

The differences between the areas mainly concern the legal situation regarding
land tenure. These differences will not be further analyzed here. Instead a model is
proposed, which focuses on the more technical parts of cadastral activities. Before
application of the model, the legal situation regarding land tenure must be clarified
and the model adapted to the legal situation.
Upgrading of an informal area will include an element of resettlement of individual

families living in the area. If resettlement is necessary, new areas for housing need
to be identified and people need to be motivated to move. These processes, which
form part of many upgrading projects, are not further analysed here.
In upgrading projects, the question of registration of land rights ought to be tackled

first before water, road or any other infrastructure is being upgraded. The
improvements will increase the value of the area as a whole and of each specific
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property in the area. With increased estate values there is a great risk that disputes An attempt is made below to show a step-by-step cross-sector methodology with
concerning ownership of buildings and boundaries will arise. If the inhabitants of the self-help overtones for the introduction of a registered land rights in areas with
settlement get security of tenure, it is more likely that they will participate fully in the informal settlements:
upgrading, as they feel safe that they can stay on their plots. The sense of security
will also increase the desire to improve their own buildings and the environment.
Properly registered tenure in a settlement makes it possible to charge rates from Figure 17:Conceptual Idea 2
the owners, which can be used to cover the cost of maintenance of the water
system and other investments in infrastructure. Without such registration it is
difficult to control the growth of the settlement. Improvements will attract more
people to settle which might make problems worse if the informal tenure is not
registered.
Supporting civil society – community-based decision-making
The active and ongoing involvement of civil society is crucial to the long-term
sustainability of an upgrading programme. The community, though its committee
structures, is a full partner in this component of the decision-making process.
However, it would be naïve to think that local authorities (both politicians and
officials) accept this situation easily, in spite of the rhetoric. Hence it is crucial to
have strong NGO support in this area. Community Organisations need full access
to all information and the technical support needed to understand the implications
of different decisions. GIS plays a valuable positive role in this respect. There is no
doubt that the visual medium aids the process of assimilating and processing data
(and information) to a great deal.
Figure 18: Result in GIS
Another area of involvement is social sustainability and economic empowerment of
the community, wherein the local area physical development comprises a
supporting element. The experience is that the community has to take responsibility
for its own social and economic development. It can (and should) work with the
local authority but, as mentioned earlier, the local authority is so delivery driven that
it struggles to understand that delivery of physical assets alone is not sustainable
unless it is underpinned by sustainable livelihoods.
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collection, improve quality and security of the data, opens up possibilities of

integration and cross-referencing information with other data sources and, most of
all, improve and facilitate access to and processing of information for different
purposes.
Simultaneously undertake a regulatory audit of planning and building regulations,

standards and administrative procedures to identify options for reducing costs and
time required for developing legal shelter options. Options may include reducing the
proportion of land allocated to roads and public open space, relaxing restrictions on
plot use and development and simplifying administrative procedures. Such audits
should be undertaken and changes implemented on a regular rather than a once
and for all basis.
Comprehensive Inventory Clarification, Classification and Prioritization

It would be an advantage if a comprehensive inventory should be performed. It is
obvious that such compilation is not found today, neither in Jakarta and
surroundings, nor in the other major cities in Java. The end result should be a
presentation of existing urban areas (kelurahans) within the cities with a high
proportion of informal settlements with a low degree of tenure security. To be able
to make priorities, a special matrix for notational topology of urban categories,
degree of security and associated property rights (or other relevant systematic
classification) should be conducted the municipal planning offices and the units for
Settlement(People, Housing and Human Rights?). Further, other stakeholders such
as NGOs involved in community development should be invited to provide
information. At this initial stage it will be a desktop exercise using secondary source
information and without involving the dwellers in the areas.
At the same time it is recommended to map ‘vacant’ land which tentatively might
suitable (and available) for new residential areas for low-income groups. The next step will be to classify and prioritize under which the following indicators
especially should be analyzed:
The inventory should be comprehensive and the collected information relating to
the land should be complete and uniform. There should also be a system for Are there any natural environmental hazards (floods, landslides, etc.) that
keeping the inventory up to date and a custodian of the data should be recognised. discourage from transforming the informal settlements?
It is recommended that Geographic Information Technology (GIT)/Geographic
Are there man-made environmental hazards that persuade against the
Information Systems (GIS) is used for capturing, storing and processing of the
transformation?
geographically related information. The technology/system can systematise data
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What is the attitude/policies of the respective municipality regarding informal Settlements where land tenure can be formalized based on
settlements especially dwellers those who reside in area not required for a strategic environmental considerations;
public purpose?
Settlements not suitable for transfer to formal tenure due to
The municipality with its delegated responsibilities for service provision will be a environmental considerations;
most important ‘formal’ stakeholder in the process. Without a positive and open
attitude among the municipal officials to find ‘on-the-spot-solutions’ for the Land suitable for new settlements.
transformation of informal settlements, it is not feasible to initiate projects. In the following, a tentative process for transformation of informal tenure into
formalised tenure in an integrated manner (Categories 1, 2 and 3 combined) is
What is the attitude/policies of the landowner to ‘illegal’ occupants of ‘vacant’ land
described. It is also recommended that the Sida Project will focus to develop a
not required for strategic public or private purpose?
methodology for that category. Category 3 has little implication for NLC mandatory
tasks; rather other actors have to take the lead in finding better living conditions for
For example, sometimes planning standards and land allocation for government
these dwellers. Category 4 is more of a ‘traditional’ spatial planning task and the
institutions are very generous, leaving land vacant for a long time after the
municipal planning office will be the main actor here, however with the assistance
institution has been established. Sooner or later the vacant land might be occupied
from NLC as regard to subdivision and titling.
by settlers and besides from zoning no other criteria is found not to formalize the
settlement.
Initiation of community participation/collaboration
Are there actions planned/in the pipeline/ongoing/implemented by local The next step will be to find out if there is an interest/willingness/commitment
government/donors/NGOs/etc? among the dwellers to be custodian of an integrated improvement program based
on self-help. An experienced community developer can be engaged from a trusted
As a stand-alone action is not to recommend, transformation measures should NGO who invites the dwellers to a kick-off meeting held at a convenient venue in
preferably be undertaken as one component in an integrated project. Corporative the area, e. g. a mosque, school or in a common out-door area. To gain confidence
efforts are therefore to be recommended. among the dwellers it is also recommended that a few representatives from an area
that already have undergone an upgrading with a bottom up approach. They are in
When the inventory, which will includes a number of gatherings with stakeholders a position to verify their impressions from such a process and describe the positive
to find out policies and attitudes as well as capture as much information as effect of the involvement by individual dwellers. It seems that the area to focus on in
possible, has been completed, the land and the settlements should be classified in the beginning with would be at the kelurahan level with a population of starting from
the following tentative categories in the GIS: 6000 people, however can be reduced or divided in a later stage.
The following issues seem to be important to highlight during the initial information
Settlements situated in a municipality with a positive attitude to session:
transformation of informal settlements;
Settlements with implemented/ongoing/in the That it will be a process based on self help where the dwellers take
pipeline(budgeted)/planned improvement activities; ownership of the activities from the start;
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That for practical reasons, a development committee should be In order to show good will it could be feasible to announce a stop to forced evictions
elected by the dwellers with the mandate to represent the dwellers and relocations if these are presently part of government policy in the area. Such
in the process; approaches waste scarce public resources and increase poverty due to increased
costs and times of travel to places of employment. A simple statement by the
That the settlers’ own priorities will be the platform for improvement relevant Minister/high official is often sufficient to reduce uncertainty and stabilize
activities; situations.
That the ‘formal’ stakeholders (such as staff from the municipality Election of a Development Committee
and the NLC) will be passive/sleeping partners in the process and The next step is the consolidation of a representative body that has the have
will only intervene when being called upon; confidence (faith) of the settlers. A model has been developed starting with
nomination of candidates from each cell followed by a closed ballot ending up in a
That the outcome will be a grant to finance proposed and agreed Development Committee with about 15 members for the settlement area. As the
improvement activities in the area as well as a higher degree of transformation issues will be one component of an integrated improvement
secured tenure/registered land rights based on the specific program it is recommended to follow that protocol. Furthermore it is recommended
condition in the area will be guaranteed; that the Project finds means to promote a gender-balanced composition of the
Committee if possible.
That no other reimbursements will be given to the elected
representatives, volunteers and other dwellers that will engage In order to get a full understanding of the objectives of the project and the need for
themselves in the process; a committee among the dwellers, it might take quite a long time before the dwellers
finally have cast their votes and a committee is in place. It might be needed with
To be meaningful, a slum-upgrading programme has to ensure that more meetings than one to boost the process and again the advocacy should be
land tenure is secured for the majority of residents; this will have to done by the community developer. However, by practical reason, a time limit (half
be done through a consultative process that engages structure year?) must be defined and agreed on with the dwellers. If the people have not
owners, tenants and ‘illegal’ settlers. responded in the given time the advocacy and motivation efforts have failed it is
For low income urban services to be more effective, it is necessary to streamline most likely that a project will not be a sustained effort and should be terminated.
and remove bottlenecks in the administrative practices in municipal and other urban
administrative units. This requires efficient urban governance, which is able to react A well functioning committee will facilitate the implementation of the project and is a
rapidly and flexibly to growing settlement problems. prerequisite that real ownership of the project can be achieved. The committee is
an important link between the ‘informal’ stakeholders - the inhabitants of the
Community collaboration is a prerequisite for the establishment of a registered land settlement- and the ‘formal’ stakeholders – the local authorities- and will also take
rights in an informal settlement and for many other purposes. No transformation over certain functions from the local authorities.
project should take place without the genuine participation of the community. In the
initial stage of the project enough time must be allowed for meetings to raise
awareness and to organize community representation.
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Empowerment
Besides from the Development Committee, so called ‘volunteers’ will report for duty
to undertake certain activities to support the process to define what improvements
are valid to undertake and finance by the grant. A training program is therefore
imparted on those who will be selected by the committee, empower the with skills in
facile techniques for holding meeting with results at the end, fact finding,
documentation, etc. Here, NLC at local level will play an important role to teach
simple field survey techniques (such as how to use steel tapes) and supply paper
copies of with available maps, aerial photos, etc. It will be a new responsibility for
NLC and much effort must be paid to train the staff to interact with the dwellers with
a ‘partnership’ attitude.
Figure 19: Conceptual Idea 3
Figure 20: GIS Version
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common understanding of the shortfalls and to try to come up with solutions and
answers to the problem. To facilitate the work, a checklist is prepared to start from
and the result is presented on a map.
Simultaneously with the analysis there will be need for field surveying in the area to
record or plot information. The surveying of the settlement for the transformation
component can be an integrated procedure with other fact-finding activities of
physical objects and a trained volunteer can carry out the interpretation on the
ground.. Boundaries between adjacent plots should be identified and agreed upon
by the neighbours and recorded by the resource persons on the detailed spatial
information provided by NLC such as detailed maps or aerial photos. The plan
should hopefully accommodate homesteads all the inhabitants in the area and also
provide for streets, open spaces as well as schools, etc. Existing structures of a
permanent nature on the site must be taken into consideration and respected as
much as possible.
The result of such a ‘line mapping’ exercise will be a tentative outline of the existing
parcels in the area, which will be presented to and discussed by the Committee.
The boundaries where disputes between the neighbours occur should be
discussed and if possible, the Committee should urge the contending parties to
reach to an agreement. Once the Committee feel confident with the result showing
all parcels in the area on one or several maps, it should request NLC to make a
(digital) compilation by a professional cartographer. And if there are uncertainties,
NLC can assist to plot locations using the Global Positioning System (GPS). This
method requires sophisticated equipment and software for calculations and needs
to be supervised by a professional surveyor.
Poverty Reflection, Surveying and Mapping of the Area

Once the Committee members have been appointed and resource persons have
been empowered with skills, it is time to analyse the needs of the area. This should
be done in a number of open workshops where the dwellers under the assistance
by the Committee have the opportunity to express views in what way there is
‘poverty’ in the area, a Poverty Reflection: is there poor access to drinking water;
are there poor health facilities; is there accessibility to and in the area poor; etc?
The underlying notational concept here is to prepare a problem tree, to get a
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characteristics and what the next steps would be if the form were agreed on. Extra-
legal settlements not subjected to environmental hazards might be entitled to forms
of secure/intermediate tenure with increased rights, but not full titles. Where
possible, the precise form of such tenure and rights should be based on tenure
systems already known to local communities. This will allow such areas to receive
services and environmental improvements through a participatory process of
physical and socio-economic development. It will also increase security without
stimulating rapid increases in land prices which could attract downward raiding by
higher income groups and the displacement or very poor tenants. Finally, it
provides urban development agencies, communities and the private sector with
time to develop a range of viable and acceptable alternatives.
Implementation of Projects and Registered Land Rights

Once priorities have been made, preparations for the listed objects will be
undertaken, scheduled, (tendered for if applicable) and carried out. However, as
pointed out previously, prior to major improvements are carried out, it is
recommended to finalize the transformation component. The following shows
examples of steps that might be needed if you go all the way to a registration of the
legal owner in the Land Registration System.
Improvements Prioritization and Proposed Form of Registered Land

Rights/Degree of Land Tenure Security
Once the inventory has been completed and properly mapped it is time to discuss
what priorities should be made in order to reduce the poverty situation in the area.
Again a meeting/workshop forum is needed to come up with a list. A form is used
for documentation and cost estimates are made. It is likely that assistance from
professionals from the local government is needed to present the costs but it might
also be possible that people in the area have competence for such calculation. It
should be observed that in accordance with the self-help tradition, it is only the cost
for materials and hardware, which is defined as it, is expected that the labour part
will be carried out by the settlers.
Regarding the land right component it is expected that NLC on the basis of the
parcel sketch map and the socio-economic profile about the area in general will
propose what form of registered land rights is applicable, its positive (and negative)
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Information for identification of the users needs to be collected via an inventory on

the ground. This can be exercised by community volunteers if they properly
training. A form should be established and filled in for each plot, together with
supporting documents. The information for identification of the plots is compiled
from the survey to a cadastral map for each plot and/or on a cadastral index map.
Each parcel is given a unique identification code, a property number on the map.
Information about area, boundaries, co-ordinates, and map and survey data should
be registered for each plot.
Acquisition of the land

Acquisition of the land can be needed in different ways depending on whether it is
private or public land and on the legal framework of the country. It can be done
through negotiations with the owner and the land purchased or, if necessary,
expropriation. Public land needs to be assigned for the purpose through an
administrative decision.
Inventory of users of the different parcels
Preparation of legal document for security of tenure
A legal document is prepared in conformity with the existing legislation. The legal
document must contain the unique identification code of the plot as recorded in the
cadastral survey. The document must also have information that identifies the legal
owner e.g. name, address, date of birth, parents and witness. A unique identifier of
the owner such as social security number or national registration card number
should preferably also be included in the document.
Registration of legal owner in the Land Registration System

The legal owners of plots can now be registered in the Land Registration System.
All essential information of the legal document should be registered in the system.
This makes the information easily accessible, as a search in the system will give
the required information immediately; only exceptional cases should require a
search in the written documents..
Communication with the land owner

After registration, a document certifying the land use right and the content of the
Register is sent to the landowner.
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Data Collection Techniques and the Use of GIS in Informal settlement upgrading is, first and foremost, about the improvement in the
conditions of an identifiable community leading, in the long-term, to the
Informal Settlement Upgrading development of a sustainable settlement. Spatial data management, operated in
Introduction the context of a people-centred approach, is the key to achieving this. It must
Informal settlements pose a major challenge for managers and planners of define, and then bring together, all the different elements of the upgrading process,
developing world cities. Failure to intervene in a manner that improves residents’ and then sought to relate these to each other within the framework of an integrated
quality of life may lead to social and political unrest. Due to continually changing spatial data management system. This is an ongoing process, and dependent for
internal social and political environments in these settlements and to frequent its long-term success on the community being able to play a full and meaningful
changes in the arrangements of shacks, spatial and social data need to be role.
collected more frequently than for conventional development tasks. What are
needed are simple, low-cost techniques that preferably involve community The objective is to develop a model-based approach to informal settlement
members in collecting the data. upgrading through the use of a spatial data management system operated through
a GIS system that is both structured and replicable by working in partnership with
Managing informal settlements involves, amongst other things, planning and the communities involved, and with the local authority.
controlling where they are located and how and where they grow; improving the
social, economic, and basic health conditions in them; and ensuring that residents A key objective of this upgrading methodology is to empower the community, both
in these settlements and neighboring communities enjoy social justice. Addressing through the provision of detailed information on the community and then by the use
all these objectives requires current, accurate, social, and spatial information, and of that information to support their negotiations with the local authority. the extent to
informal settlements hold certain unique challenges in this respect due to their which the community can take control of the data management process (as
complexity and frequently changing social conditions. Land tenure security is opposed to taking ownership of the data itself) might be limited, due to lack of
important in many improvement strategies because it provides the much needed knowledge and resources to take over the technology.
stability for these strategies to succeed. Thus, much of the data collection and
information management effort should be directed toward security and equity in the
land tenure system.
Key Issues Underpinning the Methodology
GIS
The starting point for the discussion is the recognition that large scale, replicable
The ability to represent informal settlements spatially, through the medium of a GIS, upgrading of informal settlements is only possible through the use of spatial
is being seen increasingly as an important, if not essential, component of the information technologies. At the same time, there is the need to recognize that the
upgrading process. The GIS itself provides the underpinning technology for primary objective of upgrading has to be the social and economic development of
informal settlement upgrading, while geospatial information management provides the community. Therefore, if GIS is to be used effectively, it has to support this
the framework for the upgrading methodology. Seen in this light, geospatial process. It is not simply a technical tool to underpin physical development. In fact,
information management has the potential to transform the way in which informal were this to be its sole function, it would have failed. Rather, it should be seen as a
settlements are developed. tool that liberates local authorities, communities and professionals from the
constraints of paper-based space, and allows for the interaction between the spatial
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and physical elements on the one hand, and the social and economic opportunities economic data. Interestingly, the cadastre, or land boundary system, is not
on the other. considered to be an independent dataset, but rather to be simply one element of
the physical and spatial data.
In an upgrading project there are two major groups of actors, the local authority and
the community to be upgraded. There are then other actors who may have an
interest (surrounding communities, utility companies, professionals, NGOs). In
looking at decision-making in this broad context, there are two sets of determinants
that guide the choice. The first determinant is the nature of the decision-making
process. The first category is termed consensus decision-making and, as the term
implies, covers those issues where more than one party has a stake in the outcome
of the decision, and where all parties should share the same opinion on the
outcome. The second category, which operates within what is termed the arena of
inclusion, covers those decisions that really affect only the community, and hence
where it is the community that constitutes the primary decision-making body.
The second determinant is that of scale, and the underlying hypothesis is that the
different types of decision-making will be appropriate at different scales Graph:
The first, or ‘highest’, level deals with the integration of the settlement into the
surrounding area, and seeks to address the critical issue of the integration of the
informal city into the formal city. The second level is that of the settlement as a
whole. The third level is that of the small neighborhood within the settlement, and
derives from the recognition, deriving from this project, that informal settlements
cannot be treated as homogeneous entities. Finally the fourth level is that of the
individual family.
This is a process whereby an attempt is made to create a long-term vision for the
settlement, whilst ensuring that the upgrading is not turned into a physical planning
exercise.
The Use of Generic Data

In constructing the spatial data management system around this relationship, the
first point to recognize is that there are two, distinct, core datasets. The first of these
relates to the dwelling, and essentially represents the physical and spatial data. The
second relates to the people living in the dwelling, and provides the social and
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As mentioned previously, the basic structuring elements for the spatial data
management system are the dwelling and the people living in the dwelling, with the
specific identifier for the latter group being the head of household. In database
terms, these two will be given a unique identifier, and all other data will be linked to
one or the other. These two database-structuring elements will then be linked,
where necessary, through the dwelling identifier. Within this contextual framework,
the primary data can then be grouped or structured in a number of different ways.
The system described here is based upon a detailed ‘data flow diagram’ which is
shown in figure 1 below:
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gender analysis and single parent families, both of which of crucial to the long-term
success of the upgrading project.
In this system, the primary generic data is differentiated according to its nature, with
three major data types being defined as base data, physical-spatial data and socio- Supporting the Local Authority – Shared Decision-Making
economic data respectively. Of these, the first two will be linked to the dwelling and
the last one to the head of household. The first data type (the base data) is The ‘modus operandi’ of the upgrading project is one of partnership between the
constructed around raster images (most often in the form of aerial photographs) of local authority and the community. The approach has to be able to deal with this
varying resolution, which provide a visual backdrop. These raster images provide reality if it is to achieve success through a clearly defined differentiation of
the basis for the shack vectors map of the site, to which shack numbers can be responsibilities, using the participation framework linked to scale particularly given
added to provide dwelling identification. The base data also covers the tenure, all that the stated primary goal of the project is social and economic development. The
eventual cadastral boundaries as well as servitudes. This could include zoning idea is to bring the local authority into those aspects of the project where it can be
boundaries or spatial structuring elements already proposed for the area. most effective. At the same time, the approach seeks to limit local government’s
involvement in those aspects of the project where it lacks an understanding of the
underlying issues (or a capacity to deal with them), and where the community can
The second data type (the physical-spatial data) relates the site itself. Thus it manage the process more effectively. The approach also recognizes a reality of
comprises all data relating to the site on which the dwellings are situated and ‘developing municipalities’, which is that informal areas are growing at a rate that is
cadastral data, as well as the spatial planning framework elements that impinge on faster than local authority’s ability to deal with them. Under these circumstances, it
that site. The term ‘physical’ is used here to describe those attributes of the site that becomes crucial to identify clearly the division of responsibility between local
can be seen or, if below the ground, given geo-spatial definition. Thus the term government and civil society/community.
covers the topography and the natural features above the ground, as well as any
additional features such as water standpipes, latrine structure or telecommunication The upgrading methodology is linked to an understanding of scale, as indicated
poles. Below ground it will show the engineering services and, through the use of earlier. At the macro scale, for the entire study area/community which is where the
geotechnical surveys, the nature of the underlying ground formation and the water physical and spatial issues tend to dominate, there are four key areas that have to
table. be addressed if informal settlements are to be set on a road towards long-term
sustainability. These are physical risk, physical/spatial integration with/into the
The third data type relates to the people living in the settlement. Here the generic surrounding areas, movement and access and environmental health. In all of these
data comprises essentially demographic data and a typical demographic data the LGU plays a major role, and the nature of the decision-making process is one
output would be the number of people per dwelling. The initial or minimum of consensus between the parties.
database structure comprises a database that contains all the data relating to the
head of household. Now there is a great deal of additional data that can be
gathered about communities. It can be linked to separate databases covering
dependents and tenants. Within the main database additional fields can be
provided for head of household gender, marital status, employment, etc. The
underlying objective on what the upgrading should result in determine how
elaborated the data should be to provide the flexibility to deal with for example
3/29/2010
Physical Risk
Physical risk derives from three sources. The first of these is the ground, the
REFERENCES
second water and the third fire. Rwanda Vision 2020, Pillar number four, Infrastructure Developement
Risks deriving from ground conditions. There are macro scale risks, MINICIFIN, 2007, Economic Developement and Poverty Reduction Strategy for
such as earthquakes, but the majority of ground related risks are Rwanda (EDPRS)
more localized. These include the dangers associated with living on
steep slopes, unstable ground (e.g. sinkholes) and marginal land MININFRA, 2009, Updated Natioanl Human Settlement Policy
(i.e. land that is poorly suited to human habitation, such as
MININFRA, 2008, National Housing Policy
contaminated land or low-bearing capacity soils, whether natural or
infill material).
MININFRA, 2008, National Urban Housing Policy
Risks deriving from water. The risks here can arise from flooding
MININFRA, 2009, Rwanda Building Code and Regulations
(whether from river or sea), or low-lying land subject to a fluctuating
water table.
MINALOC, 2008, Integrated Development Program (Imidugudu)
Risks deriving from fire. The major risk here is associated with the
National Land Policy, 2003
use of poor quality, fire-prone building materials. The most effective
way of controlling fires is to prevent them starting. (This can be Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR), 2009 , Busness Plan
addressed through education programs without necessarily
requiring people to be moved.) Rwanda General Population and Housing Census 2002
Physical risk can be quantified and mapped in a GIS.A major characteristic of all
informal settlements is the (physical and social) discontinuity that exists between Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2005
the settlement and the surrounding areas. This isolation of the informal settlement
is often social, as well as physical and spatial. The GIS system can be used to NISR, 2008, Rwanda Deveopement Indicators, 2006,
provide spatial linkages to the surrounding areas and to integrate the settlement
into the formal city. In this way, the whole process of formalization, when UN- HABITAT, 2009, www.unhabitat.org/humansettlement
communicated to those outside (supported by graphic output), plays a major role in
creating a framework for integration. Kigali City Conceptual Master Plan, 2009,
3/29/2010
Kigali City Council , February 2007, www.kigalicity.gov.rw TABLE 2: PROPOSAL HOW AN URBAN AREA WOULD BE DEFINED ...................................18
TABLE 3: URBAN/RURAL SCENARIOS .............................................................................23
Rwanda Development Board, doing busness statistics, 2008 TABLE 4: POPULATION GROWTH FORECAST FOR KIGALI CITY ......................................35
TABLE 5: DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSING TYPES AND HOUSEHOLDS .................................36
Housing Bank of Rwanda, Annual Report, 2008 TABLE 6: NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS AND HOUSING UNITS ..........................................37
TABLE 7: MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS DONE AND ON-GOING BETWEEN 2005 TO 2009 ....38
TABLE 8: EMPLOYMENT IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ..........................38
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1: DEVELOPMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES: UMUDUGUDU ...................................5
FIGURE 2: THE VISION OF UMUDUGUDU AND IMPLEMENTATION EXAMPLES. ...................................6
FIGURE 3: THE FLATLAND VISION AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN RWANDA HILLY LANDSCAPE ...........6
FIGURE 4: THE SITES AS POINT FEATURES.....................................................................................7
FIGURE 5: THE SITES AS A POLYGON AREA ....................................................................................7
FIGURE 6: PLANNING STATUS OF DISTRICT CENTRE 2010 (SEE NEXT PAGE)................................12
FIGURE 7: URBAN AREAS (INDICATED WITH GREY COLOR) ............................................................18
FIGURE 8 PERCENTAGE OF BUILD-UP AREAS BY DISTRICT 2008 (SEE NEXT PAGE) ......................18
FIGURE 9: MODE OF UPGRADING OF PREDOMINANT INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS.............................29
FIGURE 10: TOPOGRAPHIC ASPECTS ...........................................................................................31
FIGURE 11: TRADITIONAL HOUSE .................................................................................................32
FIGURE 12: DETACHED HOUSES IN KIGALI....................................................................................32
Figure 13: Apartment Booking in Kigali. 34
FIGURE 14: THE OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT SHOULD NOT BE NEGLECTED IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS
WITH HIGH-RISE APARTMENT BUILDINGS ...........................................................................35
FIGURE 15: THE SUN CAN PROVIDE ENERGY FOR ENTIRE KIGALI RESIDENTIAL AREAS................39
FIGURE 16: CONCEPTUAL IDEA ....................................................................................................46
FIGURE 17:CONCEPTUAL IDEA 2 ..................................................................................................48
FIGURE 18: RESULT IN GIS ..........................................................................................................48
FIGURE 19: CONCEPTUAL IDEA 3..................................................................................................51
FIGURE 20: GIS VERSION ............................................................................................................52
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 1: PLANNING STATUS OF DISTRICT CENTERS .....................................................11
3/29/2010

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N A T I O N A L L A N D U S E D E V E L O P M E N T M A S T E R P L A N H O U S I N G A N D U R B A N I Z A T I O N

“To prevent informal settlements and to

Figure 2: The Vision of Umudugudu and Implementation Examples.

Figure 4: The Sites as Point Features

Figure 5: The Sites as a Polygon Area

of these priority projects should be included. It

The methodology of the public participation component of needs to be improved.

The improvement recommendations should be district specific. Currently, these

Urban Development Planning Kigali

Kirehe 1,184 290,683 Not found

Muhanga 647 363,840 Not found

Musanze 530 388,997 Not found

Ngororero 679 357,545 Not found

Nyabihu 531 339,959 Not found

Nyagatare 1,919 323,158 Not found

Nyamagabe 1,090 354,704 Not found

Nyamasheke 1,173 411,741 Not found

Nyanza 672 285,288 Not found

Nyarugenge 134 392,217 Not found

Nyaruguru 1,010 296,665 Not found

Rubavu 388 370,724 Not found

Ruhango 626 311,414 Not found

Rulindo 567 318,296 Not found

Rusizi 958 420,504 Not found

Rutsiro 1,157 334,883 Not found

Rwamagana 682 279,325 Not found

Step 3 of the planning process - Situation Analysis

Step 10 – Monitoring, reviewing & evaluating the UDP

Urban Area Specification to Agree on?

Figure 7: Urban Areas (indicated with grey color)

Figure 8 Percentage of Build-up Areas by District 2008 (See next page)

Semi-urban Urban area with an population density

Net Residential Density Number Population

AR Rural Residential <3 < 15

Net residential density; Percentage of

Red 2020 Yellow 2020 Green 2020

Area District Urban % Nos % Nos % Nos

Gasabo 429 530,453 ??

Kicukiro 167 343,940 ??

Nyarugenge 134 392,217 ??

Burera 644 406,328 ??

Bugesera 1,290 337,943 ??

Gakenke 704 407,954 ??

Gatsibo 922 359,074 ??

Gicumbi 829 455,677 ??

Gisagara 679 328,643 ??

Huye 581 336,259 ??

Kamonyi 655 331,053 ??

Karongi 992 353,358 ??

Kayonza 1,934 265,671 ??

Kirehe 1,184 290,683 ??

Muhanga 647 363,840 ??

Musanze 530 388,997 ??

Ngoma 867 297,829 ??

Ngororero 679 357,545 ??

Nyabihu 531 339,959 ??

Nyagatare 1,919 323,158 ??

Nyamagabe 1,090 354,704 ??

Nyamasheke 1,173 411,741 ??

Nyanza 672 285,288 ??

Nyaruguru 1,010 296,665 ??

Rubavu 388 370,724 ??