Rwanda is among the least urbanised countries in the world but also among the most urbanising countries where urban population has increased threefold since 1990.
Presently, only 18% of the population lives in urban areas. Projections indicate that about 35% of the global population will be living in cities by 2020.
Gatete Claver, Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning says, “Urbanization is a core element of our EDPRS 2, which aims to achieve accelerated growth 11.5% annually and faster poverty reduction.”
Rwanda is currently focused on reviewing policy priorities to highlight options and outline a way forward for urbanization.
Professor Paul Collier of Oxford University notes, “It is important to plan for urbanisation as it occurs and not when it occurs.” It is crucial to plan urbanization with the future in perspective.
Last week During a National Forum on Sustainable Urbanization it was noted that one of the priorities identified under the economic transformation pillar of EDPRS2 is to transform the economic geography of Rwanda by facilitating urbanization and promoting secondary cities.
“Urbanization is already happening. We want urbanization to continue to happen and we want to be pro-active about it and to manage it well. We also want to develop it in the Rwandan context,” Minister Gatete said.
He noted that under EDPRS 2, six secondary cities had been to form a network of cities and poles of growth. They include Muhanga, Nyagatare, Rusizi, Rubavu, Musanze and Huye.
Given Rwanda’s rising population density -416 people per square km- which is among the highest in Africa, and the fact that land is not increasing, off-farm activities, services and industry have to grow.
Prof. Collier explains that housing infrastructure and commercial structures are the main drivers of urbanization but warned it becomes difficult and expensive to retrofit infrastructure when housing is already established.
Rwanda wants to become a middle income country by 2020. Many of the middle income countries have gone through a structural transformation of their economies and urbanization has been a part of this.
Accelerating urbanization requires investment and innovative financing mechanisms as the needs are huge in terms of infrastructure, housing, and other services.
“We want to understand the importance of coordination to deliver; the role of key players; the government; both at central and local level; the private sector and the population,” Minister Gatete said.
new office structures bracing Kigali city skyline/photo by Kakwerere.J
aerial view of settlement area/photo by Kakwerere.J
new structures coming up in Kigali/photo by Kakwerere.J
well planned roads are needed for a properly functioning city/photo by Kakwerere.J
a busy street in Kigali/photo by Kakwerere.J
such housing standards are a common sight in Kigali. Alot of efforts and planning are required to improve the city standards/photo by Kakwerere.J
Leave a Reply