Rwandan govt calls for more real estate firms to invest in affordable housing

Rwanda is seeking more real estate firms to pump out funds in affordable housing. The demand is to meet the requirement of projected 310,000 housing units by 2032.

Rwanda’s Minister of Infrastructure, Claver Gatete has given a call to the investors during the launch of construction of 2,000 dwelling units in Nyamirambo sector in Nyarugenge district under Rugarama Park Estate. The project is a joint venture between Development Bank of Rwanda and Shelter Afrique, a pan African housing finance institution, as reported by The New Times.

The project is said to be meeting 217,000 units needed in Rwanda. The houses will be built by Remote Group, which will construct around 2,000 housing units on 30 hectares. The other section of the estate will constitute over 800 housing units and will be developed by another contractor called Girinzu, these will be built on 12 hectares.

“We anticipate close to 3,000 homes of different types in a period of one year,” he added. The overall project is expected to cost more than USD 50 million.

The construction costs were mitigated after, according to the developers, Remote Group invested USD 15 million in locally manufacturing environmentally friendly building materials called Autoclaved Aerated Concrete. “The technology just needs cement, sand, water and lime, most of which are locally sourced. Remote Group is opening a factory to produce the materials, which means it is made in Rwanda and can be used for other affordable housing projects. The main idea is to cut the cost as much as possible,” Claver Gatete added.

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