03_housingurbanization_steeringcommitteedraft

03_Housingurbanization_SteeringCommitteeDraft 3/29/2010 0

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!’



URBANIZATION--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 RURAL DEVELOPMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 UMUDUGUDU POLICY------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5

Policy versus Implementation-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 Some Observations--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6

DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8 Situation Today -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8 Some other drawbacks of the existing DDP, which calls for attention for the future----------------8 Time for an Integrated District Development Plan (IDDP)? ---------------------------------------------10

URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11 Urban Growth -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11 Situation Today -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11 A Way Forward -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14 Planning methodology --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15 Step 1 - Getting organized to work with the UDP and identifying stakeholders--------------------15 Step 2 - Setting the Vision for the UDP-----------------------------------------------------------------------15 Step 3 – Analyzing the situation --------------------------------------------------------------------------------16 Step 4 – Setting the Goals and Objectives for the UDP -------------------------------------------------17 Step 5 – Establishing the development thrust and spatial strategies---------------------------------17 Step 6 - ConDucting Hearings on UDP-----------------------------------------------------------------------17 Step 7 - Preparing the Detailed Draft UDP ------------------------------------------------------------------17 Step 8 - Reviewing, adopting and approving the UDP ---------------------------------------------------17 Step 9 - Implementing the UDP --------------------------------------------------------------------------------17 Step 10 – Monitoring, reviewing & evaluating the UDP --------------------------------------------------17

URBAN AREA SPECIFICATION TO AGREE ON?-----------------------------------------------------------------------18 RESIDENTIAL DENSITY---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21 URBAN/RURAL SCENARIOS---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23 PLANNING STANDARDS FOR A SUSTAINED DISTRICT CENTER IN A ‘GREEN SCENARIO’ CONTEXT--------26

HOUSING---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28 INTRODUCTION------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28 PRESENT SITUATION-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28

Previous Planning and Policies---------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 Quality -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 Climatic Aspects ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31

Topographic Aspects----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31 Occupancy Rate and Size ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31 Types of Buildings--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32

Traditional --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Detached Houses----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32 Apartment Building --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33

PRESENT AND FUTURE HOUSING STANDARDS ---------------------------------------------------------------------33 Dwelling Size --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33 Desirable Housing Standard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33 Housing Costs-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34 Types of Buildings--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34 Building Techniques -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34 Residential Areas---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------34

DEMAND FOR HOUSING -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------35 Demand---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------37

HOUSING SUPPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------37 Labour Force --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------38 Building Materials---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------39 Ecological Building -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------39 Financing -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------39

Construction finance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 Mortgage Finance ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 40

HOUSING POLICY AND REGULATIONS---------------------------------------------------------------------------------40 Current Housing Policy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------40 Proposed Policy-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------41

Affordable Housing --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 41 Rental Market--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------41

Self-built Homes------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY FOR INFORMAL SETTLEMENT UPGRADING ----------------------44

INFORMAL HOUSING AND SETTLEMENTS IN AFRICA – AN OVERVIEW -------------------------------------------44 TENTATIVE METHODOLOGY FOR INFORMAL SETTLEMENT UPGRADING----------------------------------------47

General Description------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------47 Comprehensive Inventory----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------48 Clarification, Classification and Prioritization ----------------------------------------------------------------49 Initiation of community participation/collaboration ---------------------------------------------------------50 Election of a Development Committee -----------------------------------------------------------------------50 Empowerment-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------51 Poverty Reflection, Surveying and Mapping of the Area-------------------------------------------------52


03_Housingurbanization_SteeringCommitteeDraft 3/29/2010

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Improvements Prioritization and Proposed Form of Registered Land Rights/Degree of Land Tenure Security -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------53 Implementation of Projects and Registered Land Rights ------------------------------------------------53 Inventory of users of the different parcels--------------------------------------------------------------------54 Acquisition of the land---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------54 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

DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES AND THE USE OF GIS IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENT UPGRADING---------55 Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------55 GIS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------55

Key Issues Underpinning the Methodology -----------------------------------------------------------------55 The Use of Generic Data-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------56 Supporting the Local Authority – Shared Decision-Making ---------------------------------------------59 Physical Risk---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------59

REFERENCES--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------60

LIST OF FIGURES---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------60

LIST OF TABLES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------60

The National Land Use and Development Master Plan is referred to as the Plan in the text.



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URBANIZATION INTRODUCTION Definition. Urbanization is defined within the ambit from a Presidential Order upon a proposal by District Councils followed by advice from the Minister in charge of town planning. According urban policy statement requirements, urbanization means putting in place urbanization tools - urbanization and management master plan, local master plans and particular areas’ management plans - availing basic infrastructure for built areas, restructuring under-serviced, informal or spontaneous, parts of settlements. It includes all public interventions meant to enhance and to frame the urbanization process for the Rwandan people, to structure the urban 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 harmony with its goals as found in Vision 2020, the poverty reduction programmed and the national investment strategy. Implementing this policy will amount to supporting the said process, coordinating all the activities to be undertaken and caring for their follow up and assessment (Urbanisation Policy, 2007).

Integrated process. Urban development as results from any urbanization process is neither limited to physical infrastructure nor to housing estates. It also hinges on economic, political, 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 involvement the required financial means and resources to plan and to improve urban and rural 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 be considered as an opportunity and a driving force for development - each town is to be given a specific objective, e.g. tourism, industry and culture), and its architectural designs will take such objectives into account.

Population evolution. Five fold increase in seven decades. In slightly more than 70 years, Rwanda’s population has increased more than five times, from 1,595,500 in 1934, to 9,344,399 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

increased on average by 5.5 % per year. The urban demographic mass is concentrated to Kigali City with some 800,000 persons. This spontaneous or uncontrolled urbanisation has led to a twofold process of increased density and degradation of areas found near urban centres and of dispersed peri-urban habitat - all which bring about expensive outreach service and infrastructure (Urbanisation Policy, 2007)..

Based on findings from the rural/urban situation today it is evident that Rwanda is facing a major challenge to provide secure, comfortable, well serviced and hazard free shelters for its population in the future:

Lack of progress statistics about the Umudugudu Program make it difficult to assess the achievements so far but it is unlikely that the target of 70% of the rural population will live in this type of villages by the year 2020;

Much rural population today will look for new job opportunities and which might result in a rapid (uncontrolled) migration to urban areas that are not even capable of meeting the demands of today;

More that 80% of the existing built-up areas is unplanned with insufficient provision of property rights, services and utilities;

The present construction industry has no capacity to meet the needs for a growing urban population;

Lack of institutional framework and planning standards for urban development planning and monitoring increase the risks for degraded urban fabrics in the future.

In the following an attempt is made to sort out some of the factors that can contribute to a sustainable way forward.



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Rural Development In the precolonial times, there was a very limited degree of urbanization because most people 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 exclusively on agriculture; therefore the population was essentially rural. Migration to urban centers such as Kigali was (and is still) dictated by the search for employment in order to escape rural poverty. Declining conditions in agricultural production as a result of inadequate rainfall and lack of mechanized farming made movement to urban centers an attractive alternative. The increase in urban population has created some social problems such as poor housing and the rapid spread of diseases as a result of overcrowding among unskilled workers.

Successive governments since the colonial period have not seriously and effectively tackled the problem. For administrative reasons and in order to provide social services such as education and health care, the colonial authorities decided to create the administrative posts of Kigali, Butare, Gisenyi, Cyangugu, Ruhengeri, Byumba, Nyanza, Kibungo, Gitarama and Kibuye, were largely planned by the Belgians for economic purposes and administrative convenience, and opened residential areas in the surrounds for their local employees. The creation of these administrative centres and the settlement of nationals in these centres marked the beginning of urbanization, trade and other services. The expansion of trade activities outside administrative centers created small business centers characterized by settlements in clusters. Such centers were considerable rural economic zones and some of them are Ruhango, Rubengera, Gakenke, Gatsibo, Rwamagana etc… By the end of the colonial period, three types of human settlement could be identified clearly, 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 Pakistanis lived in the urban centers.

The establishment of infrastructure and other public utilities in urban centres attracted labour in search of employment and social progress and led to rural migration which created considerable housing needs. However, the authorities kept to the procedures of urban planning inherited from the colonizers. Building plots made available by the Government could meet the needs of less than 10% of households only. Low income families settle in unplanned residential areas. For 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

community infrastructure and facilities result in very unfavorable conditions in terms of community hygiene and environment protection.

The growth in population has encouraged urbanization, which has created economic complications for the government. Hence, infrastructure is inadequate and economic opportunities very limited. Economic activities and the standard of living in the rural areas must be improved in order to allow people to stay instead of migrating to urban centers.

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 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. By 2002, the rate of urbanization had increased to 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 apparent after the genocide.

Rwanda is among the most rural countries in the world. Most people live in individual family compounds surrounded by banana groves and scattered across the hillsides. The hill - the collection of families living on a single hill - has historically been the central social and political unit. Each hill used to have a chief who linked the population to the monarch. Although chieftaincies were abolished in the 1960s, the new administrative units generally preserved the hill divisions under the name of sectors.

Nevertheless, the term "village" may cause a misunderstanding in the Rwandan 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. Typical scenery in this country is that of hills cultivated up to their tops and dotted with a few small houses. Researchers have tried to explain this particular way of dwelling. Someone claimed that the reason was to make houses in close proximity to fields. According to this assertion, such location was necessary because movement is not in the mountainous topography. Others insisted that political reasons had influenced the 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 Policy- encouraging peasant farmers to leave their isolated homesteads to live together in small villages intended to facilitate the administration of social services.

Umudugudu Policy Policy versus Implementation The development of a sustainable human settlement policy in Rwanda aimed at Umudugudu-oriented planning based on a participatory approach and an urban planning requiring land security and area allocations. The same planning took into consideration the complementarity between urban and rural development. Moreover, it should ensure to all Rwandans decent housings as well as more salubrious, viable, equitable, sustainable and productive human facilities. The projected policy is likely to reduce the existing gap in accessing infrastructure and social services; to involve and make local authorities and the community more aware of their responsibilities with regard to the development and management of the settlement by means of endogenous building technologies and production of cheap, sufficient and decent local materials. Besides, the policy shall be a platform to put in place sound mechanisms for mobilizing internal and external resources needed for a long-term funding of affordable settlements. The policy shall be endowed with an institutional framework, adapted and flexible legal and regulatory instruments that meet the great demand and technical requirements of rational planning. (Updated National Human Settlement Policy 2009)

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.

Besides water, villages should be provided with energy sources such as (biogas, solar energy, aeolian, micro-stations) and connected to the national power network, where 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.

Taskforce. The Ministry of Local Government and other line ministries had formed a taskforce to ensure the implementation of the policy in the shortest possible time. The Minister revealed that since the adoption of the policy in1996, only 22 % of the population had been resettled in Imidugudu, whereas the target was to have at least 70 % in these settlements by the year 2020 with the remaining 30 % of population expected to reside in cities.

In spite efforts. Despite the huge efforts put in the development of infrastructural facilities and the provision of basic services – i.e., roads, water, electricity, schools, hospitals, banks, telephones and other socio-economic amenities - rural households, on the whole, are still far apart from one another. In the Umudugudu villages, which were established to ameliorate this situation, there are also differences in terms of access to infrastructure and social services for the people who live there. The distance between houses and water supply points is still hindering.

Figure 1: Development of Infrastructural Facilities: Umudugudu



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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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Figure 5: The Sites as a Polygon Area

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.



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District Development Planning Situation Today While the District Development Plans (DDPs) are well placed to be prioritization and implementation tools of the Plan, it is recommended that they be significantly improved to serve as adequate tools for planning at local government level. For example, urbanization in the 30 District is a crucial component that is very little observed in existing District Development Plans.

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 development planning.

The analysis of existing infrastructure and transportation within the district is inadequate. While infrastructure improvements are a major item funded through the district, the analysis of the infrastructure and transportation in the district is not well developed.



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The demographic data for the district is inadequate. Instruments such as the Rwanda EICV and other census data should be integrated and refined at the socio-economic conditions within each district.

Agriculture data for the district is inadequate. Agriculture is the biggest economic driver in Rwanda and it has an important influence for the rural areas of the Districts. However, the analysis of agricultural capabilities of each district is

not well developed. Specific data on what existing agriculture productivity and agro-ecological/economic potential should be included in the analysis of land use planning and expenditures. 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 identified in the existing conditions analysis. These recommendations should be more based on the existing context of the district. Mapping, prioritization, monitoring and funding of District Development Projects should be more transparent. Overall, there should be district level capital improvement plans tying 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

of these priority projects should be included. It is difficult to understand the timeframe of each of these projects. The priority projects should be classified by development categories as well as by sectors. Clarity in project location is crucial information need by sector policymakers to implement these projects. Breakdown summaries of the source of funding, and funding tied to each development project to better understand how and where the district is allocating and prioritizing its resources. The projects identified as priority projects need to be spatially mapped. Currently these projects are classified by sector. It is very difficult to understand where these projects will be implemented without a map.

Capacity and manpower skills at District office. All existing District Plans have been made by consultants, unfortunately with very little transfer of knowledge included in the assignment. The result is that the poorly trained staff will not be able to use the DDP efficiently as a tool for monitoring and implementation.



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Time for an Integrated District Development Plan (IDDP)? Integrated Development Planning (IDP) is one of the key tools for local government to manage its new developmental role. In contrast to the relatively narrow role planning had in the past, integrated development planning is now seen as a function of municipal management, as part of an integrated system of planning and delivery. The IDP process is meant to arrive at 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 and strategic manner. Integrated Development Plans, however, will not only inform the municipal management; they are also supposed to guide the activities of any agency from other spheres of government, corporate service providers, NGOs and the private sector within the municipal area.

The goal of integrated development planning is to achieve more efficient and more effective delivery of both municipal and other services to communities, and the creation of a framework for economic and social development in the municipality. A number of links also exist between integrated development planning and intended developmental outcomes.

Integrated development planning should also function as a catalyst for wealth creation and distribution. It is intended to assist in the promotion of socio-economic development through providing a more predictable framework within which

governmental, private or foreign investments will more easily be attracted. It will also facilitate the creation of a more investor-friendly environment and the promotion of local economic development.

Integrated development planning is a means of improving the quality of people’s lives through the implementation of integrated and sustainable programs and projects. It is a cross-cutting process that seeks to co-ordinate and align all dimensions and sectors engaged in development

by formulating integrated development strategies that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

Integrated development planning is intended to lay a new foundation for community-building, through inclusively creating a shared vision for the future development of the District area jurisdiction. It should focus on developing consensus around strategic developmental priorities, 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.

Integrated development planning is also a strategic framework that is intended to improve District governance through aligning the financial resources and human capacity of the municipality with the implementation of strategies, programs and projects that aim to address the prioritized needs of the more deprived, while maintaining the existing infrastructure and economic activities in the municipality.

It is, most fundamentally, a mechanism to achieve local government transformation. The planning process will determine the strategies and functions that will inevitably lead to changes to municipal structures, forms and processes, resulting in a range of operational strategies that should ensure that the municipality is able to

deliver effectively, efficiently and economically on the development priorities, objectives, strategies, programs and projects identified in the planning process. However, this will be an incremental process.

Integrated development planning is a vehicle to expedite delivery. The consultative process is intended to ensure a well-informed, fast-track decision-making process that addresses areas of conflict as they arise at grass-roots level, and broadens the sense of ownership of the outcome.

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 term of office, political office-bearers are therefore accountable for its implementation, and communities may use the IDP to assess the performance of their representatives. Councillors may also use it as a way of measuring the effectiveness and performance



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of the administration, and to assess the extent to which their political mandates have been implemented.

Integrated development planning is intended as a mechanism to align and co-ordinate the plans and activities of the different spheres of government, as well as a mechanism of co-ordination within the local authority itself. The latter purpose is particularly important, since the IDP will form the basis for engagement between officials, councillors, citizens and other stakeholders, including engagement around such practical concerns as budget allocation.

Urban Development Planning Urban Growth Characteristic of the Rwandan population is that its overwhelming numbers lives in rural areas: urbanization has not yet been developed. The proportion of the urban population was only around 5% in 1991. 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 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.

The extreme violence that swept the country in 1994 devastated Rwanda's rural social structure. With millions of people uprooted from their homes, hundreds of thousands killed, and hundreds 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 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 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 apparent after the genocide.

Situation Today 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 Centers, only 5 have an urban plan under preparation. A tender has recently been issued for preparation of two more Centers (Huye and Muhanga).

Table 1: Planning Status of District Centers

District Area (SqKm)

District Population 2010

District Centre Population 2010

Centre Population of District Population (%)

Capital City

Kigali

District Centers

Burera 644 406,328 Not found

Bugesera 1,290 337,943 Not found

Gakenke 704 407,954 Not found

Gasabo 429 530,453 Not found

Gatsibo 922 359,074 Not found

Gicumbi 829 455,677 Not found

Gisagara 679 328,643 Not found

Huye 581 336,259 Not found

Kamonyi 655 331,053 Not found

Karongi 992 353,358 Not found

Kayonza 1,934 265,671 Not found

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

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

Figure 6: Planning Status of District Centre 2010 (See next page)



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A Way Forward Throughout Africa there is a trend away from the traditional master or structure planning approach. Emphasis is now placed on strategic policies that supplement comprehensive physical development planning with more deliberate attention being paid to achieving Millennium Development Goals and National Vision (2020), especially in the spheres of poverty alleviation, economic development and governance. Often plans are not implemented and are then attacked as being poor plans, when in fact the implementation 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 (housing), job opportunities and service provision in a safe and healthy environment.

We advocate for an Urban Development Plan (UDP) to be prepared for all District Centers that can be translated into an effective instrument to be used by district and local management in daily decisions, annual programming and budgeting processes. The Plan needs to reflect both the long term visions and the immediate and short term implementation capacities. The Plan should, therefore, be more than physical plans with zoning regulations and include components that directly address local authority governance issues and implementation capacity. Technical capacities that include GIS and LIS not only for planning but for implementation and land administration are part of this institutional development process.

The implication of this perspective is that the project tasks must include a review of what managers would like to see in a strategic plan. The approach also leads to a need at local level to see planning as a continuous process within the framework of a long term vision that may be periodically updated and renewed. In its character as a process it should be linked to budgeting systems and annual work programs. Furthermore, the approach must be supported by legislation that provides a legal framework for implementation and enforcement activities. (This is being taken into consideration in the ongoing Project where a new comprehensive legislation for synchronized planning will be presented at Project closure).

With rapid urbanization and dramatic growth of population in urban areas, Rwanda is experiencing increased pressures on its natural resources that contribute to the degradation of the environment. In addition, the problems being faced by urban societies

such as environmental pollution, congestion and traffic, crime, malaise and unemployment are being aggravated by the lack of housing, transportation and communications infrastructure, as well as poverty, disease and overall lack of basic services. These problems thus, highlight the need for rational and efficient management of urban and rural resources as well as the restoration of functions that will help these urban areas implement sustainable development strategies to cope with the consequences of rapid population growth and environmental consequences.

The ability to manage urban growth and change will depend on timely access to data on 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 level. It is in this area of acquisition, manipulating and displaying complicated interactions between spatial and attributes data that geographic information system (GIS), has proven to be an effective tool for a wide range of applications. When combined with other new technologies such as global positioning system (GPS) and remote sensing (RS) it further provides an enhanced and invaluable tool to use with other databases and spatial information in, various stages of sustainable development planning and management of the environment. However, the introduction of computerized GIS and LIS tools in planning and land administration also take time, and usually more time than originally expected. Training, database development, data acquisition and input, development of norms and standards, and agreeing with data producers and consumers on standards for data-exchange, all take unpredictable periods of time. Work must proceed on several fronts simultaneously, always with a flexibility that allows for adjustments. It is also important for managers to understand what the implications of this computerization have for working processes, staff disposition, budgets and quality control mechanisms, besides becoming aware of legal implications involved in data sharing. Any professional training or capacity building program must, therefore have components directed at managers, practitioners/direct users and technical support staff.

Any increase in true participatory planning approaches implies a lengthening of time required for planning. Meaningful consultation and participatory planning requires time. If time is not taken there is a high risk of disillusionment and even antagonism towards both planning and planners. The benefits of constructive participatory approaches are 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 commercial and civil society sectors.

Our understanding of the objectives and the expected outputs of a new concept for urban development planning are summarized in the following planning methodology.

Planning methodology Physical planning should utilize the best available scientific information to identify and 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 have led to a greater understanding of the importance of protecting buffer areas, wildlife corridors, and other landscape characteristics essential for healthy, functioning ecosystems. New innovative attempts to ‘modernize’ planning and monitoring, such as the Pressure-State-Response Model, promise to make the work more effective. Our approach will introduce methods, which make it possible to predict the socio-economic 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-economic and environmental objectives are presented in different stages of the planning process. Furthermore, our approach will introduce the means by which these planning principles can be incorporated into the consensus-based planning process that ensures 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 project compliance to land use policies and guidelines and consider monitoring the deviation of the existing land use to the proposed structure plan or zoning.

Our approach will be primarily devoted to illustrating the use of GIS as a decision support tool for sustainable environmental solutions and to developing generic procedures in generating alternative spatial strategies by using GIS technology in all the plan preparation steps. It will introduce the stakeholders to planning techniques and standards, GIS analysis techniques in the assessment of socio-economic, institutional, infrastructure and environmental conditions, graphic user interfaces and developed formal decision support models. It will also explore the advantages of using remote sensing techniques, such as change detection analyses, for environmental monitoring. It will utilize GIS in, for example, the overlay analysis to determine suitable areas for the development of various public services and utilities.

Recommended steps in a comprehensive and integrated development approach for land use planning are outlined as follows:

The rationales for the UDP, which identifies and describes the steps of the UDP preparation, are summarized below. Leads for GIS as a tool in the UDP preparation would then be to prepare information products which reflect that

the Plan is both regulatory and catalytic at the same time ;

the Plan Process will include a substantial amount of participatory planning or rather collaborative planning.

The following Steps are proposed and can easily be adopted into the prescribed phases/tasks of the UDP Planning Process:

Information Products can be defined as the instructive components that are needed to present a UDP Step in a comprehensive way and will consist of tables, graphs and maps in both digital and paper based formats.

Step 1 - Getting organized to work with the UDP and identifying stakeholders 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 planning outputs on time. As regards data capture it is important to ensure that a ‘GIS Start Package’ -the resources needed for GIS activities- are readily available. It will mean that all the five components of GIS will be secured: hardware, software, human resource development, data and methodology.

Step 2 - Setting the Vision for the UDP The Ministry of Infrastructure, which has a leading role in the process, has a Vision and Goal and Objectives. These visionary statements could (and should) not differ from other visions provided for the country (Vision 2020) and be mirrored in the UDP. Also the 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 stakeholders and the general public. Likewise, the UDP vision must reflect the NICI- 2010 Plan in which the Rwandan Government is pursuing the creation of a knowledge-based economy, and in which Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will play a 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.

Step 3 – Analyzing the situation 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 and records of the national agencies concerned and other entities. Assessment involves 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 result of the consultation will hopefully bring out a tailored specification of data that answers to the special requirement for sustainable development .The consultation will

also trigger the “search –for data’ activity and the secondary source data custodians should then be approached as early as possible in order to get all necessary information required for this step as the search and acquisition for the data is usually a lengthy process.

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 acceptable for UDP planning and analysis activities.

It is also recommended that a proper File and Folder system should be introduced for the accumulated Project attribute and spatial data.

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 services of the urban area but also the District needs based on population projections. 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 potentials originating from nature and man made/enforced restrictions/ rules and regulations. These will provide the bases for some examples for the formulation of a sustainable development plan for the urban area.

Step 4 – Setting the Goals and Objectives for the UDP The next step after the data gathering and analysis is the formulation of goals and 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 processes in public settings where the Situation and Risk & Suitability Analysis Information Products can be presented.

Step 5 – Establishing the development thrust and spatial strategies This step is critical in determining the future spatial development of the nation and involves the understanding of what is appropriate, feasible and possible through an exploration of different land use alternatives or scenarios. A draft plan will be prepared 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 and display work in the beginning. When the planner acquires advanced skills in the use of the GIS, more sophisticated spatial analysis is possible.

Step 6 - ConDucting Hearings on UDP

This involves a 3-stage process namely: public display and information dissemination; conDuct of hearings and consultations. The process aims to inform the general public and ensure an objective and participatory review of the draft UDP and to encourage ownership of the plan and gain support for its implementation.

GIS will be a useful instrument to translate the plan into a format that will be understood by the stakeholders. The information proDucts in the above step can be printed out and displayed and/or be included in a PowerPoint presentation.

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 things. The GIS will be useful in furnishing templates which are based on map standards with regard to format and symbology.

Step 8 - Reviewing, adopting and approving the UDP The mandatory and comprehensive review of the UDP will take place 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.

GIS benefits from the excellence of the digital mode compared to the tedious process of reviewing analogue maps which might be useful in

this step.

The following steps will be catered for by the District Government:

Step 9 - Implementing the UDP Implementing the UDP requires resources, institutional structures and procedures. For example Provincial and District Master Plans (we prefer to say ‘Comprehensive

Land-use Plans’) need to be prepared in order to provide a closer touch base interpretation of the national strategies. It is recommended that the proposed planning 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 Plans and Urban Development Plans) it is considered to be most important to agree on one national standard for classification of urban versus. The following figure presents an attempt to define ‘urban’ from various aspects.

Table 2: Proposal how an urban area would be defined in a land use planning cont

Classification Object Definition

SPATIAL (NLC National Base Map Definition)

Built-up Area Conglomeration of buildings including open fields such as sports fields and marketplaces. Minimal functional area is approximately 40,000 sqM (200 x 200 M depending on shape). Minimal functional width is approximately 50 M depending on significance. Two areas are connected if the distance between the defined polygons specified above is less then approximately 75 M, depending on appearance. Only one row of houses on each side of the road is not defined as a built up-area.

Urban Area Urban area with a population density more than10 inhabitants /hectare

POPULATION DENSITY

Semi-urban Urban area with an population density less than 10 inhabitants /hectare

Capital City Urban area that holds authorities and institutions for central governance

(Provincial Centre)

(Urban area that holds authorities and institutions for provincial governance)

District Centre Urban area that holds authorities and institutions for local governance

ADMINISTRATVIE

(Sector Centre) Urban area that holds authorities and institutions for local governance. Not applicable in the Plan context but will be an important unit for comparison in the District Development Plan (DDP)

Major Urban Area

Urban area with more than 50,000 inhabitants year 2010

SIZE

Other Urban Area

Urban area with less than 50,000 inhabitants year 2010

Gazetted Urban Area

Urban area with an approved Urban Development Plan (UDP)

ZONING

Unregulated Urban Area

Urban area without an approved Urban Development Plan (UDP)


Residential Density Kigali Master Plan has made a comprehensive analysis on residential densities, see figures below:



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Low Density: The average maximum parcel size for a low density residential development in an undeveloped area would be 1000 sq, meters. One house per parcel would result in a density range of 8-13 housing units per hectare, or an average of 11 housing units per hectare. These numbers are a bit higher than the low density developments in Kigali city which are around 4-8 housing units 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 hectare. These numbers are a bit higher than the medium density developments in Kigali city which are around 6-17 housing units per hectare.

High Density: The average parcel size for a single-story high density residential 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 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.

Based on these findings, the Plan proposes a bit more simplistic set o residential standards for urban development planning:

Net Residential Density Number

of Housing Units/ha

Population Density

(inhabitants /ha)

AR Rural Residential < 3 < 15R1 Low Residential ~ 10 ~ 50R2 Medium Residential ~ 20 ~ 100R3 Single-storey High Residential ~ 60 ~ 300R4 Multi-storey High Residential > 100 > 500

Net residential density; Percentage of area inhabitants to the total area including service access roads. This percentage is measued on the basis of number of inhabitants per hectare or number of housing per hectare.

General Residential Guidelines for Year 2020:

General average household size: 4.3 persons

General average of housing unit occupancy: 1 household

General average housing unit size: 120 sqM



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Urban/Rural Scenarios Table 3: Urban/Rural Scenarios

Red 2020 Yellow 2020 Green 2020

Area SqKm

District Population 2010

Urban Population 2010

% Total Pop

Nos % Total Pop

Nos % Total Pop

Nos

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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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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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

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


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Planning Standards for a Sustained District Center in a ‘Green Scenario’ Context The Umudugudu policy needs to be complemented with a ‘decentralized’ modular urbanization strategy, ‘UMUJYJI,’ to prevent hazardous and uncontrolled 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.

The following features are proposed for a modern District Center by year 2020:

An Urban Development Plan (UDP) shall be prepared for the layout of the District Center, consulted and approved following the guidelines in the Plan,

Location: The Center shall be located on non fertile soil and no permanent buildings will be allowed on slopes more than 20 degrees or where flooding occurs.

Population: The Center should accommodate 20,000 -100.00 inhabitants which corresponds to about 30 % of the respective District total population.

Housing: Areas of Low, medium and (moderate) high residential density should be zoned for.

Education: (At least) One tertiary education facility: University branch, technical collage, etc. should be located in the Center.

Health: A district hospital shall provide secondary health services to the Center and the District population.

Administration: District office with an inviting and ‘transparent’ architectural design and a multi-purpose community hall should be found in the District Center.

Commercial: A pedestrian friendly shopping area with a market place should be centrally located in the Center.

Culture, sport and recreation: A sport and recreation area shall be zoned, accommodating an arena for sports and culture, swimming pool and creative playground.

Protection: A District court, a District police station and a fire station would e the basis for a secure and safe living environment for the Center and the District as a whole.



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Industrial: Areas with non-polluting small-scale industries should be included to have self-self sufficient local production of basic goods.

Transportation: Regular public transport with gas powered vehicles shall be 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.

Sewerage: A functional system offers good hygienic provisions.

Solid waste: A landfill area with a biogas digester and a recycle center shall be located in an environmentally safe place.

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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Housing Introduction Housing in its comprehensive and broader meaning is not only the provision of dwelling itself but rather a physical environment that guarantees protection, safety and easy access to work, school and entertainment facilities. Therefore, housing presents a wide variety of issues of a social, political, economic and technical nature. Thus, for adequate housing development, a variety of inputs and resources are needed. When we analyze housing we do it just for urban (built-up) areas.

Pillar number four of the Rwanda Vision 2020, pursues a harmonious policy of grouped settlements based on economic activity. Rural settlements organized into active development centres will be equipped with basic infrastructure and services. This system of settlement will serve as an entry point into the development of nonagricultural income generating activities. Land will be reorganized and consolidated so as to create adequate space for modern and viable farming. Rwanda is characterized by low but accelerating urbanization. This has happened in a rapid and uncoordinated manner, meaning that social services and employment opportunities are lagging behind. From now until 2010, each town will

have regularly updated urban master plans and specific land management plans. 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 (from 5% in 1995). The income differential between towns and rural areas should remain within reasonable proportions, due to the decentralization of economic activities to the country.

The National Investment Strategy particularly places emphasis on the support of the private sector into housing sector. The consolidation of efforts between Government and various development partners will ensure realization of the programs of the sector. The development of Urban Master Plans and the construction of basic infrastructure on allotted sites will enable investors to orient their investments (industrial parks, tourist zones, commercial areas and residential areas.)

The Rwandan Government has made all efforts to put in place a conducive investment regime in order to attract foreign direct investment bearing in mind the package of benefits it brings and the positive impacts it generates on the economy.



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The investment code enhances the competitiveness of Rwanda as an investment hub which leads to quality production in goods and services.

Before 2004, Rwanda has never had a coherent policy incorporating all the elements of the human settlement sector. The essential actions carried out in this field since 1962 consisted of housing units built for government employees in administrative centers and real estate credit for the construction of individual 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

Present Situation The housing sector in Rwanda is important and growing. The demand for housing in Rwanda is larger than the present supply. Housing conditions and housing standards need to be improved as well as building standards and building 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 detail.

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 therefore policies should be directed towards providing as many new units as 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,

less or no subsidies on construction materials to facilitate the implementation of the policy.

Housing standard and costs are not related to the household income and ability to pay. In reality, housing needs and preferences vary in accordance with each household’s individual income, size, socio-cultural needs and environmental situation. The present situation illustrates a number of difficulties in the housing sector:

Relatively high costs of land, construction materials, and labor;

Financial resources and loans for housing are limited;

Scarcity of planned land in major towns supplied with infrastructure for housing;

Shortage of locally produced building materials;

Breakdown in utility and water supply services;

Lack of maintenance and management of housing compounds, apartment houses and high-rise buildings. Informal Settlements.



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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 Figure 9: Mode of Upgrading of Predominant Informal Settlements

An informal estimate from Kigali City Council (February 2007) is that 78 % of the 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 has been found in Rwanda, the Plan proposes an approach, which is based on successful ‘formalisation’ project that has been undertaken bay Swedesurvey. The methodology is drafted after the Housing Guidelines.

Previous Planning and Policies Since independence year 1962, urban planning and development were not given much attention. Thus taking into account the rapid and uncontrolled development of the sector, and its potential contribution towards the socio-economic development of the country, the Rwandan Government in 2008 made a decision to formulate an urban housing policy which is geared towards achieving its development goals.

Under the Urban Housing Policy, the government aims to execute the following policy actions:

Develop programmes aimed at providing urban housing for a cross-section of the population;

Establish minimum standards in the construction of housing with respect to construction codes and provision of adequate basic facilities such as water and sanitation, access to reliable power sources, and basic social amenities within easy reach of residential areas;

Provide the legal and regulatory framework to encourage private sector participation in the development of urban housing vis-à-vis the development of housing estates;

Facilitate the development of housing stock in order to cater for increase demand for ownership and short term occupation;

Establish “owner-occupier” housing under affordable mortgage schemes guaranteed by employers, both public and private;

Develop and establish tax incentive schemes to encourage people to obtain housing loans;

Facilitate the access to housing finance for low and middle income people;

Establish guidelines on the upgrading of informal settlements and put in place legal and regulatory measures to ensure that expropriations if required are carried out in line with internationally acceptable norms;

Decentralize the registration of land titles to ease the acquisition of land plots.

Quality In the aftermath of the Genocide of the 1994, the central government gradually took more responsibility for the provision of quality housing to the disadvantaged groups 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 heavily involved in boosting housing supply and ensuring adequate standards for lower income groups became increasingly apparent. Post war reconstruction often involved large volumes of central government financed housing targeted at those who were unable to afford decent housing from their own resources.

The quality of the Rwandan housing stock has been greatly improved over the last 15 years. About 70 % of current houses in urban areas were built after 1994, 25% of the entire housing stock is supplied with electricity. 5.4 % of the households have bathrooms, 12 % has kitchens. Solutions adopted for the sewage differ substantially. Less than 0 % of the houses are incorporated in a municipal sewerage system and more than 44 % have septic tanks.(Rwanda demographic and health survey 2005)

Climatic Aspects The hot climate of Rwanda requires buildings designed with attention to environmental restrictions. Otherwise, energy consumption will be high and costly. Ventilation, solar radiation and building materials should take into account the climatic limitations. Today the new buildings in most cases are constructed in a contrary way, with low grade of isolation, wrong orientation and design not



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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.

Topographic Aspects

Figure 10: Topographic Aspects

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 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 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 worsened between 1991 and 2002 since the proportion of households which owned dwelling units in which they resided declined from 91.8% to 86.4% while the proportion of those in rented premises increased from 3.6% to 6.4%.

The dominant type of housing in Rwanda is an isolated residence which comprises 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 households. However, this type of housing is more predominant in some Provinces than in others, particularly in the Eastern Province and informal housing (utujagari) appears to be very common in Kigali City where it lodges some 59.6% of all the households.

Types of Buildings The wide variety of dwelling types in Rwanda is related to a number of factors, including climatic variation, available building materials, building techniques, local traditions, socio-economic conditions and building costs. The main types of dwellings are the following..

T R A D I T I O N A L

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

Even in modern urbanization the type has been used, often in order to provide housing on small building lots. The courtyard house is well adapted to the Rwandan climate, but low quality building material, non-existing isolation and poor windows offer a large potential for improvement.

D E T A C H E D H O U S E S

This more modern type is characterized by a freestanding building on the plot with possibility to catch daylight from all sides. This type requires larger lots than the courtyard type. The buildings may be big enough to harbor more than one apartment. Even these houses often have a courtyard, serving as a private outdoor 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 in central parts of the towns, where the detached houses have two or three floors, the density may be similar to that of traditional residential areas.

Figure 12: Detached Houses in Kigali.



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A P A R T M E N T B U I L D I N G

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 apartment blocks are found in new residential areas, though some are concentrated along main centre streets.

Present and Future Housing Standards Dwelling Size A dwelling has to satisfy the needs of a large number of activities such as cooking, eating, sleeping, conversation, entertainment, washing, childcare, religious 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 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 residential areas. Certainly, there is no universally acceptable standard.

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:

One family per household and dwelling

Average household size should be about 4 persons

Average number of persons per room will decrease to about 1.5

Average number of bedrooms per dwelling could be 2-4

Average bedroom area could be 12-24 sqM

Average kitchen area could be 12-16 sqM

A guest room area could be 16-20 sqM Taking into consideration the average household size in 2020 and the desirable 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 sqM to keep pace with improving income levels. On the other hand, the average 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 192 sqM and that a certain share should have the size of some 120 or 140 sqM.

Housing Costs The current cost of construction is estimated at $400 per sqM. Most new houses cost as much as more than 10 times the annual family income in the lowest income 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 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 a house are relatively simple jobs, when and if the need and economic possibility is at hand. The apartment buildings are by nature inflexible. Need for more living space can only be satisfied by moving to another dwelling.

The outdoor environment around apartment buildings should be arranged satisfactory, with well-maintained parks cape, playgrounds and organized parking.

More types of apartment buildings should be elaborated to be compatible with a 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 adaptable to small towns and metropolitan suburbs. A segregation of housing for the well-off inhabitants and “social” housing for low-income families should be avoided.

Figure 13: Apartment Booking in Kigali.

Building Techniques There are environmental as well as economic reasons to improve building methods and building quality. A higher investment cost (for insulation, double windows, solar 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 residential areas do not consist of dwellings only. They should also include roads, parking spaces, green areas, children parks, super-markets and other commercial services, service for education and health, religious buildings and sporting grounds. The quality should be improved for green areas, open spaces, and recreation areas. The parking should be well organized in the apartment housing areas and street parking should not be allowed for residential purpose.

Figure 14: The Outdoor Environment Should not be Neglected in Residential Areas with High-rise Apartment Buildings

There are ambitious physical planning standards for the outdoors environment in Rwanda but implementation is generally neglected.

Demand for Housing The definition of a household is based on the social and economic unit of the 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.

The figures released from the general population and human settlement census (August 2002) show that the resident urban population increased very rapidly from 391,194 in 1991 to 1,362,312 inhabitants in 2002, representing an increase from 5.5% to 16.7% of the total population of Rwanda. According to statistical projections, in 2020 the urbanization rate will be 29%, that is to say 3 357 310 habitants of urban population, representing an average of 123 839 urban habitants 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.

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 situation due to the shortage of affordable housing units, therefore there is need for 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.

Table 4: Population Growth Forecast for Kigali City



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Source: Kigali City Master Plan 2007

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 people by 2020 in all the 3 districts of Gasabo, Nyarugenge and Kicukiro, hence the increasing need for more commercial and residential real estate.

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 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 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 materials that is now close to 20% of GDP, which is about USD $ 600 million (Rwanda Development Board Statistics).

From the survey carried out for the Kigali City Master Plan, most people desire medium standing category houses for residential housing. The commercial involvement in the real estate production is still not yet well developed.

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 economic generator in multiple ways. By the judicious planning and layout of housing in the larger context of the urban plan, it can become an engine of

economic dynamism, and a producer of social and human capital, not simply a provider of shelter.

The most common type of housing settlement in Rwanda is the scattered isolated housing pattern which is home to 63.9% of all households and to 64.4% of the resident population. This housing pattern consists of isolated dwelling units fairly 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 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.

Table 5: Distribution of Housing Types and Households by Number of Families in Rwanda

Urban Rural Total

Type of Housing

Hous

ehold

s

Popu

lation

Hous

ehold

s

Popu

lation

Hous

ehold

s

Popu

lation

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Grouped housing (Imidugudu) 8.9 8.9 21.3 20.7 19.4 18.8

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

Planned housing 6.5 7.9 0.2 0.2 1.2 1.4

Informal/unplanned housing 35.0 33.5 1.6 1.6 6.8 6.6

Other type of housing 3.2 3.4 2.9 2.9 3.0 2.9

Source RGPH Census 2002

District Pop-2005 Pop-2012 Pop-2020 Growth Rate

Gasabo 395,430 595,285 922,923 5.65%

Kicukiro 217,899 351,636 577,340 6.58%

Nyarugenge 265,060 349,396 488,301 4.05%

Total : 878,389 1,296,317 1,988,564 5.43%



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The existence of a high proportion of isolated housing even in the urban areas of the country may be attributable to the recent administrative reforms which extended 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 are found to still have scattered isolated settlements which are typical of the rural domain even though they are integral parts of the towns.

There is however a marked change in the configuration of housing types in 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 by the recent Government policy launched since 1994, aimed at encouraging and generalizing residence in grouped settlements or village centers called « imidugudu » especially in the rural areas. The purpose is to find lasting solutions to the settlement of repatriated refugees, to more rationally manage agricultural land, to be able to provide some basic facilities more conveniently to rural populations, etc.

The proportion of households living in grouped housing settlements (old or new) increased from 17% to 25% in Rwanda and from 18% to 27% in the rural areas of 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 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 slightly more dwellings than number of families. One explanation could be that more and more families have more than one house. Other than the everyday residence, some families have country houses or so called farms.

Table 6: Number of Households and Housing Units in Thousands According to Different Scenarios, 2020

2020 Low Growth High Growth

Households 3017.2 3272.8

Housing Units 3017.2 3272.8

Source, Census 2002

Demand On the basis of the urban growth rate, the annual housing requirement in Kigali is estimated at between 8,500 and 10,000 units. The annual need for the rest of the urban centres is estimated at 15,000 units. It has been established that, in 2002 and 2003 combined, the public and private sectors contributed only 10% in terms of 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 practice of informal housing development in unplanned areas. This situation has had the following consequences:

The increase in the load factor in the unplanned areas;

Increase in the extent of unplanned areas. The estimation of housing needs during 2010-2020 is based on the 2002 housing stock of Rwanda of about 10,000-15,000 units.2 In relation to the total number of 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 to 10,000 dwelling units.

The need for new housing during 2010 to 2020 for the high growth scenario can be estimated to be about 100,000 - 250,000 units. This would imply a total annual production of 10,000 – 25,000 housing units during 2020.

Housing Supply The amount of new dwellings needed of Rwanda in the future, increased demand for commercial buildings and new infrastructure, creates great demand for construction industry and building material industry, but also for financing of housing.

The demand for housing in Rwanda today is quite high. In Kigali City alone, the Council puts demand estimates at about 100,000 homes required to narrow the gap. The Central Bank says 25,000 new mortgages need to be generated every year.

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 medium-high income earners). Here we would be looking at targeting homes that 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.

Table 7: Major Developments Done and On-going between 2005 to 2009 in Kigali City.

Developer Project location Number of units

Status

Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR)

Gaculiro 300 Completed and inhabited

Idem Kacyiru 50 Completed and inhabited

Rwanda Housing Bank

Kagugu 250 Phase I comprising 52 completed and sold out, rest on-going

Idem Kimisange 350 Selling

Real Contractors Rusororo 500 Phase I of 280 nearing completion

Idem Kagugu 21 Completed and sold out

Idem Nyarutarama 18 Idem

Idem Kinyinya 300 Planning phase

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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Labour Force The first bottleneck is an insufficient labour force and its low level of education. Labour shortage forms a serious restriction for the housing output and quality today. The construction industry contributes to this situation by clinging to traditional 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 construction sector has to increase considerably. An increase to 30% from the current 7.2% can become necessary during the coming 10 years.

Table 8: Employment in Building and Construction Industry during 2010-2020 According to High and Low Growth Scenarios

2010 Low Growth Scenario 2020

High Growth Scenario 2020

Building and Construction Industry 7.2% 15% 30%

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.

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,

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 industry the production has to be increased primarily of material based on natural raw materials available in the country. Cement is to a large extent imported in spite of available domestic capacity for cement production. The utilization in the local industry is low.

Ecological Building Buildings should be designed in a manner where architectural solutions show consideration for climate and environment. Existing site conditions should be respected and local wildlife and vegetation preserved. Local materials should be used and water recycled and conserved. Techniques should be used to bring 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 Chapter 10, Energy.

Figure 15: The Sun Can Provide Energy for Entire Kigali Residential Areas.



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Financing 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 the propotion of households unable to afford the minimum cost of housing. The possibilities of subsidies have to be considered in order to house those with insufficient incomes for even the cheapest type of dwelling. The banking system should be supplied with possibilities to give loans for building a house, possibly with reduction of interest costs.

A rough analysis of costs compared to income indicates that the cheapest new dwellings are beyond the financial reach of most households. A housing policy therefore should ensure that different groups will live in planned communities, supplied with social and technical infrastructure. Social housing should be considered for those with the lowest family income.

C O N S T R U C T I O N F I N A N C E

Rwanda has not been spared by the current global financial downturn. However, owing to the massive need and Government willingness to address the acute housing shortage, several initiatives have been done to resolve this standoff and it has already started paying off. Such initiatives include:

Government has availed a long-term facility to the banks enabling them have more liquidity and hence not crippling their operations. This facility is remunerated quite attractively;

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 monies are brought into the economy hence more businesses. Some of the new banks have strong backgrounds in financing housing development;

The average construction loan would attract an interest rate of 14.5% per annum and the repayment period is mainly hinged on the length of the construction, normally 12-36 months depending on the size of the project.

M O R T G A G E F I N A N C E

This is one area that has lacked a lot in the past mainly due to lack of access to long-term finance. With banks afraid of having a currency mismatch where they lend long-term against short-term funds, only two (02) institutions (Rwanda Housing Bank and BCR) are known to have offered long-term mortgages payable in 15-20 years at attractive interest rates.

Traditionally banks such as Banque Populaire du Rwanda and Zigama CSS (this institution started as a credit and savings scheme for the military but has since evolved quite tremendously) are the ones that offered mortgage facilities to their clients. The challenge was the repayment period would not exceed eight years.

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 housing loans at commercial rates.

Housing Policy and Regulations The challenging mission to supply the growing population of Rwanda with enough affordable, healthy and good quality housing requires a reformation of the governmental housing policy in fields like modernized construction industry, improved building technology, better skilled labour and more efficient building processes.

Current Housing Policy The present housing policy in Rwanda is formulated as

follows: The National Urban Housing Policy includes all public interventions within the framework of the urbanization process of Rwanda in order to constitute the urban structures at national and provincial level, to improve urban management, control development, and the spatial expansion of cities, particularly urban centres using effective planning tools. The development and adoption of the National Urban 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 population will live in urban areas with access to basic infrastructure necessary to ensure sustainable development. The main objective of the “Urban Housing Policy” of Government is to contribute towards improving the conditions of living of the urban population through controlled and harmonized development of urban areas and provision of affordable housing to all sectors of the population. The Government aims to engage the private sector and promote its active participation in driving housing and real estate development in the country. (National Urban Housing Policy 2009) The Land Policy aims at the controlled and planned spatial growth of towns and the development of housing in general. It aims to promote real estate development activities and the build capacity in land development professionals. The land policy is also oriented towards encouraging private entities to take part in the marketing of land plots within the municipalities. One strategic option of the Land Policy is the promotion of the construction of high rise buildings a process that would effectively require the improvement of expertise in the design and construction of such structures.

Housing, besides being a very basic requirement for the urban population, also holds the key to accelerate the pace of development. Investment in housing, like any other industry, has a multiplier effect on income and employment. It is estimated that overall employment generation in the economy due to investment in housing construction is eight times that of direct employment. The construction industry, which comprises the building, transport infrastructure, and civil 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 by the construction industry. It provides the physical infrastructure that is key to the country’s economic development while its activities create business opportunities for suppliers and manufacturers and at the same time, provides employment for professionals, semi and unskilled labor.(Rwanda National Construction Policy 2009) Proposed Policy Public and Private Enrolment in Housing

The National Land Use and Development Master Plan is based on the recommendation that both the private sector and the public authorities should play active roles in the housing sector and in the supply of housing. A high proportion of families are currently unable to afford even a minimum-standard housing unit. Many families will require substantial subsidies in order to satisfy their housing demands. It is unlikely, however, that substantial housing subsidies will be practical unless resources come from the mobilization of under-utilized finances in the private sector as well as from the re-allocation of existing national funds.

The role for the public sector should be to plan, procure and offer satisfactory housing financing, especially for low-income groups. The public sector should also be responsible for supplying low income households with satisfactory housing. The main role for the private sector should be housing construction. The households currently living in sub-standard dwellings should be helped to improve their present resident and living condition. The further role of the public sector should be to provide infrastructure, both technical and social.

Summarizing, the policy stresses the co-operation of the public and private institutions and the families themselves in implementing housing programs. The level of state involvement will depend on the income levels, in that full assistance is necessary for those of the lowest socio-economic rank. For others the government acts as a supporter of the private sector.

A F F O R D A B L E H O U S I N G

More than 93 % of the low-income families will not be in a position to pay even for the least expensive housing units now being initiated by the public sector. A direct public housing provision is imperative. The supply of new public housing depends largely on the district housing authorities. Most public housing is put up for sale at very low rates and some housing units are given for free to low-income families, but the supply of public housing is low compared to the demand.

It is not realistic to believe that available financial resources will suffice for a large 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



44

needs are greatest, by providing dwellings for those unable to afford a minimum standard.

Households should be encouraged to exercise their social responsibilities, thus minimizing the need for public subsidies. Therefore, it is necessary to promote private savings, especially for low-income groups. Home ownership is a unique opportunity of saving for most people. The government should introduce a housing financing system based on mixed public and private operations.

Rental Market At present a high portion of houses are privately rented. These houses represent less than ?? % of the total housing stock in Kigali City and are rented by foreigners and locals. The private rented sector could play a substantial role for the housing supply based on market incentives. The future role of the private housing sector should be considered a policy issue, of importance for the housing delivery system. 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 the foundations for housing co-operatives. The size and functions of housing co-operatives could be extended with the view of promoting subsidized rented housing. They may operate under public supervision, thus enabling them to fill the gap left by the ownership of housing and public housing, particularly in areas of excessive shortage. Another type of host for rented housing could be non-profit companies, owned by the districts.

S E L F - B U I L T H O M E S

Self-built homes can be an increasing opportunity for low-income families to achieve their own home to a lower cost than otherwise. A self-built home allows the 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.

Self-building can include a range of different levels of engagement in the building process. Some self-builders will mainly make the financial arrangements, acting as project manager watching their project bloom, and ensuring the self-building goes smoothly and efficiently. Other self-builders will get more involved in their house project and engaged in saving labour costs, and a few will carry out all of the construction work themselves.

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.

Land Supply and Site Preparation Many towns suffer from inadequate supply of serviced sites which has encouraged residential land speculation on the few existing ones, and spontaneous sprawl. The public sector should lead the urban development by providing sites serviced with paved roads, systems for water, sewage, electricity and telecom as well as facilities for education and health care.

Lack of Data

Data to use for important comparative indicators showing distribution, quality, performance, etc. have not been found. Consequently it is not possible to compare inequalities of, for example, the proportion of houses rented by foreigners and locals, trend of urban growth in Rwanda, number of people living in informal settlements, built up area / agricultural land, and number of inhabitants per urban area/ existing housing stock between Districts, which is a fundamental comparative analysis in a National Plan.

It is therefore recommended that the sector authority make such data available so it can be accessible for District Development Plan revision that is due in 2012.



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Guidelines – Housing

Housing Policy An urban housing policy has been established, based on both private and public sector involvement in housing supply and housing investments. The main role for the public sector should be to plan, procure and provide a good financing system. The private sector should be responsible for construction of buildings.

The central responsibility for the Rwandan housing policy should be assembled in one body – a governmental housing organization – in order to concentrate the efforts in the housing sector and to reduce inefficiency in control, coordination, implementation and data collection.

A long-term production target for the planning period should be to keep up an annual production rate between 10,000 to 25,000 units in order to avoid a housing shortage.

The future roles of private and co-operative housing sectors should be considered issues of importance for the housing supply. Public housing

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.

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.

Modern versions of the traditional courtyard house should be promoted - a single-family house that can develop and change according to the needs of the households - as a cheap and effective method to meet shortage of space and provide space for future expansion at family level.

Higher building quality, energy conservation and a good indoor climate should be a goal. Operation costs in relation to investments should be considered much more than is the case today.

The approved standard for green areas, children’s playgrounds, social and commercial services and recreation facilities should be implemented, and standards should also be established for safe car parking, biking and walking to the houses



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Guidelines – Housing Construction

Construction A national educational program should be established to attract and train workers in the field of construction. Rwandans should be encouraged to work in the construction sector, which should be made more attractive as a field of work.

Research in the field of building and construction should be carried out by public authorities and universities to initiate and support industrialization of construction.

The use of standardized construction techniques, pre-cast concrete elements and of pre-fabricated industrialized construction techniques should be increased, traditional building methods improved and on-site pre-fabrication of building components introduced.

Buildings should be designed in a more sustainable, ecological and energy-saving way, not forgetting tradition, climate and environment.

A domestic modern industry for pre-fabricated building parts and concrete blocks should be established, in order to reduce costs and dependence on imports. This should include privatisation of companies, support from local capital and promotion of direct foreign investment.

Market incentive systems should be introduced in order to promote private contracting firms and a more efficient building industry.

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

area, as well as widely spaced structures to maximize natural ventilation.

All buildings should be constructed to maximise the saving of energy. Materials with high isolation effect should be developed and used for building constructions. Local and environmental friendly materials should be used.

Water should be conserved and recycled. Solar collectors should heat the water. Natural light should be utilized to save energy for electrical lighting. Fresh air should be used for ventilation.

Guidelines – Housing Financing Central government financing should be increased by procurement and subsidies to the housing sector, as part of a national housing policy. The central government should develop a framework and provide incentives to mobilize private capital and household savings into the housing sector, in order to augment financial resources.

A subsidized lending system with progressive repayment measures should be introduced for low-income groups, in order to cover the gap between the borrower’s income and the cost of minimum required housing standard. Mortgage credit facilities should be linked to the desired housing standards and the total costs of dwellings, not merely to household income.

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.



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Proposed Methodology for Informal Settlement Upgrading Informal Housing and Settlements in Africa – an Overview 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 between the actors involved are a mix of formal, customary and informal rules. Attempts to improve urban land administration often fail, partly because the social rules governing how people act in land markets are poorly understood.

In large and medium cities the following characteristics can be identified:

Formal public or private land delivery systems provide only a limited supply of plots which are rarely accessible to poor people.

Informal land delivery systems are partly a continuation of earlier ‘customary’ land administration practices and partly a response to the failures of the formal tenure and administration systems.

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.

Most women members of indigenous groups only obtain access to land through men, but women with means can buy informally subdivided land.

Informal land delivery systems do and should play a significant and effective role in urban residential land delivery but their shortcomings should also be identified and addressed:

To encourage investment in both owner-occupied and rental housing, the tenure security available to those who access land through informal delivery channels should be enhanced;

Governments should provide at least short-term security to residents in informal settlements and, in the vast majority of cases, cease to evict settlers and demolish houses;

Security and formal land administration can be enhanced by public sector agencies accepting innovations in procedures and documentation that have emerged in informal systems;



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The poor layouts and services that often characterize informal settlements can be addressed by acknowledging the existence of such areas, permitting work with subdividers to improve layouts and enable the early provision of basic services;

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 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.

One way of cultivating such legitimacy is to make the processes of data acquisition and information management participatory and transparent. To further enhance the legitimacy of the information, it is also important that community members are able to understand it.

Figure 16: Conceptual Idea



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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 concerning ownership of buildings and boundaries will arise. If the inhabitants of the settlement get security of tenure, it is more likely that they will participate fully in the 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 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.

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.

An attempt is made below to show a step-by-step cross-sector methodology with self-help overtones for the introduction of a registered land rights in areas with informal settlements:

Figure 17:Conceptual Idea 2

Figure 18: Result in GIS



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Comprehensive Inventory 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 inventory should be comprehensive and the collected information relating to the land should be complete and uniform. There should also be a system for keeping the inventory up to date and a custodian of the data should be recognised. It is recommended that Geographic Information Technology (GIT)/Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is used for capturing, storing and processing of the geographically related information. The technology/system can systematise data

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.

Clarification, Classification and Prioritization

The next step will be to classify and prioritize under which the following indicators especially should be analyzed:

Are there any natural environmental hazards (floods, landslides, etc.) that discourage from transforming the informal settlements?

Are there man-made environmental hazards that persuade against the transformation?



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What is the attitude/policies of the respective municipality regarding informal settlements especially dwellers those who reside in area not required for a strategic public purpose?

The municipality with its delegated responsibilities for service provision will be a 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 transformation of informal settlements, it is not feasible to initiate projects.

What is the attitude/policies of the landowner to ‘illegal’ occupants of ‘vacant’ land not required for strategic public or private purpose?

For example, sometimes planning standards and land allocation for government institutions are very generous, leaving land vacant for a long time after the institution has been established. Sooner or later the vacant land might be occupied by settlers and besides from zoning no other criteria is found not to formalize the settlement.

Are there actions planned/in the pipeline/ongoing/implemented by local government/donors/NGOs/etc?

As a stand-alone action is not to recommend, transformation measures should preferably be undertaken as one component in an integrated project. Corporative efforts are therefore to be recommended.

When the inventory, which will includes a number of gatherings with stakeholders to find out policies and attitudes as well as capture as much information as possible, has been completed, the land and the settlements should be classified in the following tentative categories in the GIS:

Settlements situated in a municipality with a positive attitude to transformation of informal settlements;

Settlements with implemented/ongoing/in the pipeline(budgeted)/planned improvement activities;

Settlements where land tenure can be formalized based on environmental considerations;

Settlements not suitable for transfer to formal tenure due to environmental considerations;

Land suitable for new settlements. 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 described. It is also recommended that the Sida Project will focus to develop a 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 these dwellers. Category 4 is more of a ‘traditional’ spatial planning task and the municipal planning office will be the main actor here, however with the assistance from NLC as regard to subdivision and titling.

Initiation of community participation/collaboration The next step will be to find out if there is an interest/willingness/commitment 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 NGO who invites the dwellers to a kick-off meeting held at a convenient venue in the area, e. g. a mosque, school or in a common out-door area. To gain confidence 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 a position to verify their impressions from such a process and describe the positive effect of the involvement by individual dwellers. It seems that the area to focus on in the beginning with would be at the kelurahan level with a population of starting from 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 session:

That it will be a process based on self help where the dwellers take ownership of the activities from the start;



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That for practical reasons, a development committee should be elected by the dwellers with the mandate to represent the dwellers in the process;

That the settlers’ own priorities will be the platform for improvement activities;

That the ‘formal’ stakeholders (such as staff from the municipality and the NLC) will be passive/sleeping partners in the process and will only intervene when being called upon;

That the outcome will be a grant to finance proposed and agreed improvement activities in the area as well as a higher degree of secured tenure/registered land rights based on the specific condition in the area will be guaranteed;

That no other reimbursements will be given to the elected representatives, volunteers and other dwellers that will engage themselves in the process;

To be meaningful, a slum-upgrading programme has to ensure that land tenure is secured for the majority of residents; this will have to be done through a consultative process that engages structure owners, tenants and ‘illegal’ settlers.

For low income urban services to be more effective, it is necessary to streamline and remove bottlenecks in the administrative practices in municipal and other urban administrative units. This requires efficient urban governance, which is able to react rapidly and flexibly to growing settlement problems.

Community collaboration is a prerequisite for the establishment of a registered land rights in an informal settlement and for many other purposes. No transformation 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.

In order to show good will it could be feasible to announce a stop to forced evictions and relocations if these are presently part of government policy in the area. Such 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 relevant Minister/high official is often sufficient to reduce uncertainty and stabilize situations.

Election of a Development Committee The next step is the consolidation of a representative body that has the have 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 Development Committee with about 15 members for the settlement area. As the transformation issues will be one component of an integrated improvement program it is recommended to follow that protocol. Furthermore it is recommended that the Project finds means to promote a gender-balanced composition of the Committee if possible.

In order to get a full understanding of the objectives of the project and the need for 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 more meetings than one to boost the process and again the advocacy should be done by the community developer. However, by practical reason, a time limit (half year?) must be defined and agreed on with the dwellers. If the people have not responded in the given time the advocacy and motivation efforts have failed it is most likely that a project will not be a sustained effort and should be terminated.

A well functioning committee will facilitate the implementation of the project and is a prerequisite that real ownership of the project can be achieved. The committee is an important link between the ‘informal’ stakeholders - the inhabitants of the settlement- and the ‘formal’ stakeholders – the local authorities- and will also take over certain functions from the local authorities.



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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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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

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.



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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)

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.



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Inventory of users of the different parcels

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.

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 Introduction Informal settlements pose a major challenge for managers and planners of developing world cities. Failure to intervene in a manner that improves residents’ quality of life may lead to social and political unrest. Due to continually changing internal social and political environments in these settlements and to frequent changes in the arrangements of shacks, spatial and social data need to be collected more frequently than for conventional development tasks. What are needed are simple, low-cost techniques that preferably involve community members in collecting the data.

Managing informal settlements involves, amongst other things, planning and 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 in these settlements and neighboring communities enjoy social justice. Addressing all these objectives requires current, accurate, social, and spatial information, and informal settlements hold certain unique challenges in this respect due to their complexity and frequently changing social conditions. Land tenure security is important in many improvement strategies because it provides the much needed 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.

GIS The ability to represent informal settlements spatially, through the medium of a GIS, is being seen increasingly as an important, if not essential, component of the upgrading process. The GIS itself provides the underpinning technology for informal settlement upgrading, while geospatial information management provides the framework for the upgrading methodology. Seen in this light, geospatial information management has the potential to transform the way in which informal settlements are developed.

Informal settlement upgrading is, first and foremost, about the improvement in the conditions of an identifiable community leading, in the long-term, to the development of a sustainable settlement. Spatial data management, operated in the context of a people-centred approach, is the key to achieving this. It must define, and then bring together, all the different elements of the upgrading process, and then sought to relate these to each other within the framework of an integrated spatial data management system. This is an ongoing process, and dependent for its long-term success on the community being able to play a full and meaningful role.

The objective is to develop a model-based approach to informal settlement 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 the communities involved, and with the local authority.

A key objective of this upgrading methodology is to empower the community, both through the provision of detailed information on the community and then by the use of that information to support their negotiations with the local authority. the extent to which the community can take control of the data management process (as opposed to taking ownership of the data itself) might be limited, due to lack of knowledge and resources to take over the technology.

Key Issues Underpinning the Methodology The starting point for the discussion is the recognition that large scale, replicable upgrading of informal settlements is only possible through the use of spatial information technologies. At the same time, there is the need to recognize that the primary objective of upgrading has to be the social and economic development of the community. Therefore, if GIS is to be used effectively, it has to support this process. It is not simply a technical tool to underpin physical development. In fact, were this to be its sole function, it would have failed. Rather, it should be seen as a 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 on the other.

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

economic data. Interestingly, the cadastre, or land boundary system, is not considered to be an independent dataset, but rather to be simply one element of the physical and spatial data.



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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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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-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 constructed around raster images (most often in the form of aerial photographs) of varying resolution, which provide a visual backdrop. These raster images provide the basis for the shack vectors map of the site, to which shack numbers can be added to provide dwelling identification. The base data also covers the tenure, all eventual cadastral boundaries as well as servitudes. This could include zoning boundaries or spatial structuring elements already proposed for the area.

The second data type (the physical-spatial data) relates the site itself. Thus it comprises all data relating to the site on which the dwellings are situated and cadastral data, as well as the spatial planning framework elements that impinge on that site. The term ‘physical’ is used here to describe those attributes of the site that can be seen or, if below the ground, given geo-spatial definition. Thus the term covers the topography and the natural features above the ground, as well as any additional features such as water standpipes, latrine structure or telecommunication poles. Below ground it will show the engineering services and, through the use of geotechnical surveys, the nature of the underlying ground formation and the water table.

The third data type relates to the people living in the settlement. Here the generic data comprises essentially demographic data and a typical demographic data output would be the number of people per dwelling. The initial or minimum 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

gender analysis and single parent families, both of which of crucial to the long-term success of the upgrading project.

Supporting the Local Authority – Shared Decision-Making The ‘modus operandi’ of the upgrading project is one of partnership between the local authority and the community. The approach has to be able to deal with this reality if it is to achieve success through a clearly defined differentiation of responsibilities, using the participation framework linked to scale particularly given that the stated primary goal of the project is social and economic development. The idea is to bring the local authority into those aspects of the project where it can be 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 manage the process more effectively. The approach also recognizes a reality of ‘developing municipalities’, which is that informal areas are growing at a rate that is faster than local authority’s ability to deal with them. Under these circumstances, it becomes crucial to identify clearly the division of responsibility between local government and civil society/community.

The upgrading methodology is linked to an understanding of scale, as indicated earlier. At the macro scale, for the entire study area/community which is where the physical and spatial issues tend to dominate, there are four key areas that have to 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 surrounding areas, movement and access and environmental health. In all of these the LGU plays a major role, and the nature of the decision-making process is one of consensus between the parties.



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Physical Risk Physical risk derives from three sources. The first of these is the ground, the second water and the third fire.

Risks deriving from ground conditions. There are macro scale risks, such as earthquakes, but the majority of ground related risks are more localized. These include the dangers associated with living on steep slopes, unstable ground (e.g. sinkholes) and marginal land (i.e. land that is poorly suited to human habitation, such as contaminated land or low-bearing capacity soils, whether natural or infill material).

Risks deriving from water. The risks here can arise from flooding (whether from river or sea), or low-lying land subject to a fluctuating water table.

Risks deriving from fire. The major risk here is associated with the use of poor quality, fire-prone building materials. The most effective way of controlling fires is to prevent them starting. (This can be addressed through education programs without necessarily requiring people to be moved.)

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 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 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 communicated to those outside (supported by graphic output), plays a major role in creating a framework for integration.

REFERENCES Rwanda Vision 2020, Pillar number four, Infrastructure Developement

MINICIFIN, 2007, Economic Developement and Poverty Reduction Strategy for Rwanda (EDPRS)

MININFRA, 2009, Updated Natioanl Human Settlement Policy

MININFRA, 2008, National Housing Policy

MININFRA, 2008, National Urban Housing Policy

MININFRA, 2009, Rwanda Building Code and Regulations

MINALOC, 2008, Integrated Development Program (Imidugudu)

National Land Policy, 2003

Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR), 2009 , Busness Plan

Rwanda General Population and Housing Census 2002

Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2005

NISR, 2008, Rwanda Deveopement Indicators, 2006,

UN- HABITAT, 2009, www.unhabitat.org/humansettlement

Kigali City Conceptual Master Plan, 2009,



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Kigali City Council , February 2007, www.kigalicity.gov.rw

Rwanda Development Board, doing busness statistics, 2008

Housing Bank of Rwanda, Annual Report, 2008

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

TABLE 2: PROPOSAL HOW AN URBAN AREA WOULD BE DEFINED ...................................18 TABLE 3: URBAN/RURAL SCENARIOS.............................................................................23 TABLE 4: POPULATION GROWTH FORECAST FOR KIGALI CITY ......................................35 TABLE 5: DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSING TYPES AND HOUSEHOLDS .................................36 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

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