Rwanda National Police

This week, Heads of State and Government converged in the City of Kigali for the 10th Extraordinary African Union Summit. Nineteen Heads of State, to be specific, attended the continental summit, which culminated into the historical signing of one common market—the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement—by 44 African countries.

According to Police, the historical event was “successfully incident-free”, which the force partly attributed to the responsiveness of the general public for “complying with the abrupt temporary diversions.”

As the main road from Kigali International Airport to Serena Hotel in the city centre was reserved for the VIPs arriving for or from the Summit, motorists were diverted to other alternative routes connecting other parts of the country to the Central Business District, which caused thick traffic jam.

The provided alternative routes were Nyabugogo-Yamaha-Kinamba-Kacyiru-Nyarutarama-Kibagabaga-Kimironko; Nyabugogo-Yamaha-Kinamba-Poids Lourds-Kanogo-Rwandex-Sonatube-Niboye-Kabeza-Busanza-Kanombe; and Nyamirambo- Rugunga-Kanogo-Gikondo-Rwandex-Sonatube-Niboye-Kabeza-Busanza-Kanombe.

“We thank the general public and motorists in particular for bearing with the changes and using the alternative routes, which experienced heavy traffic jam,” Senior Supt. Jean Marie Ndushabandi, the spokesperson for the Traffic and Road Safety department, said.

Rwanda National Police (RNP) had deployed officers along roads and took to social media to inform the public about the alternative routes as well as the temporary opening of the main affected road.

"Security was good, traffic well managed and above all the public were cooperative and supportive either by heeding the calls or timely and accurate informatio, which was key. No doubt, the ongoing road network expansion will address and manage the challenges of traffic jam we experience in such times," SSP Ndushabandi said.

According to the City of Kigali, the road network expansion is meant to facilitate easy traffic flow and aligned with the national MICE strategy.

In 2014, Rwanda Convention Bureau (RCB) developed the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) strategy. The strategy is meant to partly drive the agenda to make the country a tourism and international conference hub.

“Between 2010 and 2017, the City of Kigali added over 117km of asphalt to the road network. As you know, we presently embarked on a project of 54 km to expand, among others, the City Centre-Nyabugogo-Gatsata road; Rwandex-Remera,” Bruno Rangira, the spokesperson for the City of Kigali, said.

“There are also other ongoing projects to rehabilitee Kanogo-Rwandex; construction of Nyanza (Kicukiro)-Rebero-Gikondo-Nyamirambo road; Nyacyonga-Batsinda; and Kimihurura roads like Rwandex-Gishushu road, which will connect Kigali Convention Centre to different roads. All these projects are aimed at addressing issues of congestion and also connecting different parts of the city with many alternative routes in such cases when some roads are closed temporarily,” Rangira added.

“There are other roads in the pipeline in the near future including the expansion of Sonatube-Bugesera bridge road, rehabilitation of Poid lourde road and constructions of ring roads—bypass roads that go around the city.”

The Prime Minister, Edouard Ngirente, while presenting a detailed plan for the next seven years, last year, said that a total of 350km new road network will be built in Kigali and 6 secondary cities; Nyagatare, Muhanga, Rubavu, Rusizi, Musanze, Huye.

Among those, the Premier said, will include the construction of 22km of road network in Kigali dedicated to only big buses.