By Nasra Bishumba
The New Times-Kigali
26 October 2009
Kigali — The Senatorial committee charged with following up corruption and injustice in the allocation of land in Kigali City, has taken city authorities to task on the way they handled the issue.
The Senate was yesterday afternoon informed by the Standing Committee, on Political Affairs, that among other issues, land officers in Kigali were still very few compared to the number of land casesthey have to deal with on a daily basis.
"We found that the land officers were still very few and the fact that they still lack proper office facilities and transportation which does not make their working environment conducive," Senator Joseph Karemera, who heads the committee said.
Karemera informed the Senate that there are 13 land officers in Nyarugenge and 12 each in Gasabo and Kicukiro districts.
The Senate was also informed that district land officials requested anyone who has applied for land to cater for transportation costs, something that most senators pointed out was unfair.
The issue that, however, raised debate from several members of the upper chamber, was the expropriation of Kigali residents that has left thousands of locals complaining about the procedures employed during the execution of the exercise.
"We have learnt that residents are expropriated when a big investor who wants to put up a storeyed buiding turns up, and we tend to forget that Kigali, like any other city, will still be home to both the upper and lower classes.
We have learnt of cases where the locals are forced to pay bribes to get pieces of land that fall in the category of their income," one Senator pointed out.
She requested that the long awaited Kigali City Master plan allocates land to both classes of the city locals.
Senator Rwigamba Balinda, who is the Vice-President of the Committee on Social Affairs and Human Rights, informed the Senate that land complaints were many and most were well-founded.
He pointed out the issue where Kigali City Council authorities require investors to make environmental assesments before construction work on any site begins.
"The Rwanda Environmental Management Authority should be doing this work".
Senator Jean Baptiste Bizimana, who has been a member of the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Finance since 2003, wondered why prices of land were still very high yet the government hopes to attract investors.
"We [government] wish to encourage more and more investors to come and invest in Rwanda and yet our land is still very expensive. I would like to know what the government is doing to rectify that," he said.
The devleopments come days after the Minister for Infrastructure, Eng Linda Bihire, appeared before the Senate to answer queries on the law establishing the National Housing Authority.
If passed, the National Housing Authority will serve as an overall project manager on behalf of the State for all projects related to housing and construction.
It will also conduct regular and thorough assessment of the status of urban areas and construction in Rwanda and survey requirements for additional housing.
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