The Head of the Department of Social Affairs in Ngoma District, Thomas Kagame said that there are many families that live in high-risk zones, a situation that could endanger their lives.
“Reports from sectors show that there are 8 out of 14 sectors in our district, with about 472 households living in high-risk zones. These include Remera, Kibungo, Karembo, Gashanda, Murama, Mutendeli, Kazo and Zaza. There is a program to evacuate them from the high-risk zones to a well-organized village,” he said.
Information available indicates that over the past few years, the figures of the population who lived in villages were at 98%.
Kagame says that although the percentage is considered to be high, it doesn’t take away the fact there are those who want to build illegally in other locations other than in the village who create slums.
He explains that in 1998 and 1999, Ngoma District relocated many people who lived in canyons (high risk zones) in houses that were built with materials that were not longlasting and after twenty years have become dilapidated.
“Now the new and efficient way that the government has established is aimed at protecting the population, improving their living conditions so that they live safely and not fearing that disasters may strike and houses collapse on them. It is a program to accommodate them in strong houses and living together in a model village, where residents build a house, with one house being able to accommodate 4 families (4 in 1),” he said.
When highlighting the status of this program and how far it has gone in Ngoma District, the head of Social Affairs said: “We have Mutendeli Model Village where 40 families were relocated and Rukumberi Model Village for 57 families. We have now added a new house, that was built all over the sectors built in such a way that one house may accommodate 4 families; and it is a continuous program, aiming at getting people to live in a better environment,” he said.
The government of Rwanda, among other goals, targets that in 2024, each sector will have at least one model village, which includes all the infrastructures that people need to live better.
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