Nyagatare, 12 February, 2019: The Government of Rwanda under the support of World Bank has officially celebrated the reception of completed phase 1projects of Rwanda Urban Development Project (RUDP) in secondary cities namely Nyagatare, Rubavu, Rusizi, Muhanga, Musanze and Huye.

Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Claver Gatete represented the Government of Rwanda. Other officials graced the occasion with their presence including the World Bank Country Manager, Yasser El-Gammal, the Governor of Eastern Province, Fred Mufulukye, Mayors of beneficiary districts, Development partners such as Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Water Aid, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) UN Habitat, Government officials, security organs, civil society and local residents.

Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Claver Gatete said that “the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2013-2018 (EDPRS2) prioritized secondary cities as poles of economic and urban population growth that will promote sustainable development”.

On the completed roads and standalone drainages, Minister Gatete noted that” to develop secondary cities, Rwanda Urban Development Project phase 1 implemented under the World Bank funding in all six secondary cities is meeting the main objective to provide access to basic infrastructure and enhance urban management”.

He said that the phase 1 focused on the construction of roads and standalone drainages in secondary cities as well as the ongoing informal settlement upgrading of Agatare Cell in City of Kigali.

“The first phase of the project started in September 2017 completed in October 2018 with 28.3 km of constructed urban asphalt roads and 13.3km of standalone drainages across all six Secondary Cities at a cost of Frw 27.84 billion”, he said.

Minister Gatete said that the official reception of completed RUDP phase1 comes at the time when the Ministry and its stakeholders are moving to the next phase to ensure sustainability and continuity.

“RUDP / Phase 2 projects are also at detailed engineering design stage in in all six secondary cities and real works on ground will start by July 2019, he highlighted.

The representative of Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA), Dismas Nkubana noted that during the implementation of phase 1 projects, some challenges were met like relocation of public utilities that were not initially identified, social and environmental issues which included expropriation and relocation of people affected by the project, technical challenges and climate changes. “However, he said, the encountered challenges were jointly handled by the RUDP Team, District Leaders and Residents and utility providers”.

“Through it all, substantial lessons were learnt in handling such urbanization challenges that will be no longer an obstacle in the next project implementation phases”, he added.

RUDP is a World Bank funded project negotiated through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and will be implemented by Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) for a period of 5 years (2016-2021) with the total investments of $95 Million. The first phase was completed in October 2018.

The main objective of the project is to provide access to basic infrastructure and enhance urban management in Six Secondary City Districts (Huye, Muhanga, Nyagatare, Musanze, Rubavu and Rusizi) and upgrading of unplanned settlement in the City of Kigali. The key components of the Project include the provision of Basic Infrastructure in Secondary Cities, the pilot Upgrading of an Unplanned Settlement in Agatare, City of Kigali, technical Assistance to support sustainable urban management and capacities in Secondary City Districts and facilitation of Local Economic Development as well as the support for Project Management at the National Level through MININFRA and LODA.