Kigali, 20 December 2017: Government of Rwanda started acquiring land from individuals to scale down on housing cost which has kept the housing gap widening. The decision was taken in 2016 after developers complained that land is very expensive which makes it impossible for them to provide low-cost housing needed by government.

During the National dialogue on Monday, 18 December 2017 Minister of Infrastructure James Musoni told participants that a number of strategies were adopted to fast-track construction of affordable housing.

Besides the strategic budgeting and acquisition of land for affordable housing, the Government also provides support in form of basic infrastructure such as roads, water, electricity and internet lines which is approximately 30% of the project cost specifically for affordable housing and high density projects to stimulate private investment.

Minister Musoni also mentioned other strategies to deliver low-cost housing such as the use of local construction materials which aims to not only improve the quality of infrastructure but also reduce the building period and save money. In this regard two private operators have recently launched the construction materials factories including AFRI Precast and Strawtec Building Solutions in Rwanda.

The first is specialized in producing fireproof concrete materials such as walls, pillars among other construction materials ensuring durability of materials, safety, aesthetics and quality while the second started the construction of high quality modular houses with pre-fabricated wall panels from wheat and rice straw.

The most awaited however, is the housing fund operation where the government will invest initial capital of more than $200 million through Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), this money will be accessed by developers through their respective banks as a loan at low interest rate.With the fund, affordable housing developers will be able to get a loan at 10% interest rate compared the current interest rate of around 20%.

Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) has announced that in order to avoid speculations around land prices, the Government of Rwanda has decided to start buying land from private owners and to resell the land to developers without aiming at interest.

To this effect, RHA in collaboration with the City of Kigali and secondary city districts have jointly purchased some land in Busanza, Nyamirambo, Kinyinya and Ndera in Kigali and in all secondary cities before reaching all districts of the country. Part of the acquired land is already taken by the private developers such as 22ha  in Ndera – Gasabo district was sold to Moroccan investors who plan to develop 5,000 units , the proprietors of Kigali Heights purchased Busanza land to develop 800 units to relocate residents of Kangondo II whereas Up country, more land was purchased in secondary cities such Nyagatare Musanze, Rubavu,Huye,Muhanga and Rusizi district but all districts were called to find enough land for developers.

The combination of all these interventions will substantially bring down the current housing cost and hence trigger increased access to housing at affordable rates by the different categories of target groups.