Monday, 18^th May 2015: The Ministry of Infrastructure organised a meeting that brought together different stakeholders to review 2014/2015 urbanization and rural settlement sector achievements and further make forward-looking on the 2015/16 sector priorities, plans and activities.

In their opening remarks, both Christian Rwakunda, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Chairperson of the Sector Working Group; and Meskerem Brhane, the Team Leader at the World Bank/ Rwanda Program and Co-Chair of the Sector Working Group; welcomed all participants for their engagement and commitment for the performance of the Sector. They mentioned that Urbanization and Rural Settlement Sector is one of the major sectors which are envisioned to contribute to strong economic development transformation country-wide. The Chairperson noted that the annual forward looking Joint Sector Review (JSR) aims to monitor sectoral activities, and ensure that the implementation is addressing the requirements of EDPRS2 priorities”.

The mission statement of the urbanization and Rural Settlement sector stated as “Rwanda’s human settlements and urbanization are sustainably managed and promoted, supporting economic development and benefiting all strata of population”; it is in coherence with the long term socio-economic development of Rwanda.

The main objective of the Urbanization and rural settlement sector is to develop the basis for good urban and rural settlement management cross-cutting all development sectors and following clear guidelines and procedures at all levels of governance as the main objective. The sector also is mandated to create a hierarchical network of urban and urbanizing centres providing services and attracting economic activities countrywide, and to support the development of secondary cities to reduce pressure on City of Kigali.

The sector is pursuing seven (7) priorities disaggregated into seven (7) outcomes stated in its five (5) years Strategy Plan (2012-2017 SSP).

The first outcome of the sector is stated as “well-coordinated Urban and rural settlement development planning and management”. This will be done by harmonizing policy and regulatory framework and empower District One Stop Centers. Second outcome is the development of secondary cities provided by services and economic development and off-farm jobs opportunities.  Focuses is also put on affordable housing development, increase private sector activities in the sector and improves institutional and human capacities for urbanization and rural settlement development and efficient management of government assets, work space and initiatives targeting public health.

In 2014/15 fiscal year, the sector has achieved many outcomes, but the major achievement is the regulatory framework or urban planning and building. This was achieved through adoption of the National Housing Policy which promotes densification and initiatives in urban and rural settlement, the implementing orders of the law governing urban planning and building in Rwanda and the urban planning and building codes. This regulatory framework clearly explains in deals what are the contents of different urban planning documents, how they are formulated and approved. In addition, the urban planning and building activities authorization, supervision, inspection, and auditing and delegated responsibilities.

In addition to this improved regulatory framework, implementation was also tackled by reviewing existing Local Urban development Plans of Rubavu, Nyagatare, Musanze and Rusizi to align them with development priorities, and detailed physical plans for all districts to easy the implementation of local urban development plan. In rural settlement development, IDP model villages were developed and the 4 in 1 and 2 in 1 rural housing design were introduced. This model will respond to the efficient use of land, densification, and basic service provision for rural dwellers.

The 2015/16 sector forward looking include actions that support the development of pull factors to urban areas across the country, with special focus on the Secondary Cities, operationalization of the adopted urban planning and building regulatory framework, implementation of different affordable housing development projects, and scaling up existing IDP model villages and creation of new ones

In his closing remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Mr. Christian RWAKUNDA and the Chair urged to the stakeholders to opt for a synergy work, and commended them to regular consultations and full engagement in the material to make the targeted initiatives a success.