By JOHNSON KANAMUGIRE

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Thousands of families remain at risk of being evicted to pave the way for expansion of physical amenities and formal settlements across Kigali.

The projects by different actors targeting 10 informal settlements across the city were hailed as likely to allow landowners in the dwellings to upgrade their structures instead of being forced out.

However, dwellers in these areas mapped for eradication, just like property rights’ activists, continue to express concerns over possible evictions in the wake of the facelift.

Rwanda Today has learnt that while World Bank had projects going on in four of the 10 mapped sites, activities in six others will start in the near future under separate initiatives by investors with Rwanda Housing Authority and the Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), a local organization showcasing how informal settle ments can be eradicated without displacements of dwellers.

But, apart from RISD whose pilot project targeting more than 365 families in areas of Gasabo district, concerns over expropriations continue to mount in the seven areas covered by the projects under World Bank and Rwanda Housing Authority.

This is largely because except for infrastructure works, the projects have no component on upgrading the homes to the level desired by the municipality, even as these areas could become expensive and attractive to investors thereby prompting both voluntary or involuntary displacements.

According to the organisation, dwellers in the areas are low income earners and the urban poor who, in spite of infrastructure upgrading, may struggle to replace their dilapidated structures with housing models required under the City master plan.

“Our fear is that after infrastructure has been installed, the places will be more expensive and attractive. It’s going to be so prime, any investor will come and buy and force people to move.

We need a model that will redevelop informal settlements from putting up infrastructure to housing so we ensure these people don’t move by themselves or are forced to move,” argued Annie Kairaba, RISD executive director.

According to Kairaba without clear strategies allowing landowners to secure funding or shareholding in housing investments, people in all the seven areas covered by the projects under World Bank and those by Rwanda Housing Authority would likely be expropriated.

The organisation faulted authorities’ past approaches towards eradication of informal settlements for longstanding issues that marred attempts by the government to get rid of slums across parts of Kigali. By the time of going to press, both City of Kigali and Rwanda Housing Authority officials had not responded to our queries regarding the disputed approach to slum eradication.

However, city authorities had lauded the housing regulator’s approval of mud bricks as eligible building materials for single homes in designated urban centres as likely to ease the cost of building for low income families struggling to upgrade their structures to required standards.