The eight-in-one housing model is ‘Made in Rwanda’ product. The bricks are made in Nzove Cell, the cement is from CIMERWA while the ventilators, kitchen ware and finishing are locally made in Gakinjiro. It highlights how to successfully design a home with a smaller footprint, creating a home that is a comfortable for a family.
The housing model is in line with the country’s program of upgrading slum areas and will be up-scaled to other slummy areas.
While inaugurating the housing model, Marie Chantal Rwakazina, Kigali City mayor said that building with products made in Rwanda will create more jobs.
“This housing model highlights that Made in Rwanda construction materials can partly provide a solution to accommodation and employment challenges in the country. It is also possible that it can generate jobs for many while building houses at affordable prices,” she said.
Building houses with materials from Rwanda is one of the strategies in the country’s 7-year National Transformation Program. The local material use is promoted under the auspices of Swiss programme Promoting Climate Responsive Building Material and Off-farm Employment in the Great Lakes Region (PROECCO).
PROECCO targets to collaborate with the private sector to generate 1.5 million jobs, where between 30, 000-50,000 jobs will be generated by brick making factories.
The project will also help the country to reduce the cost of imported construction materials by creating more than 100 permanent jobs in brick-making. The country will thus be able to save $300,000 every year, the money which used to be spent on importing construction bricks.
PROECCO will also see Rwanda reduce reliance on biomass fuels by 60% and will promote a new technological mechanism that utilizes less fuel.
In the project, 100,000 affordable houses will be built every year until in 2024 when the 7-year program will end. It will reduce construction costs by 40%.
Swiss ambassador to Rwanda based in Kenya, Ralf Heckner said that the inaugurated housing model gave jobs to 150 people. He said that it also highlights a sustainable way of solving housing problems in Rwanda.
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