Rwanda has proposed an urban transport project that promises to revolutionise mobility in the country’s capital, Kigali. The city is grappling with traffic congestion, poor linkages between public transport modes, and lack of non-motorised transport (NMT) infrastructure.
The east African country has reported an increase in vehicular traffic due to an estimated 6.6% rise in gross domestic product in 2024 - compared to Africa’s average of 4% for same period. The government is implementing, through the Road Transportation Development Agency (RTDA), the first phase of the $120 million Kigali Urban Transportation Infrastructure (Kuti) project.
Kuti is part of the Kigali Master Plan – contained in a wider national transportation blueprint - that the government says will, by 2030, help reduce urban transportation costs, cut waiting times for travellers and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicles stuck in traffic jams for long periods.
“The City of Kigali aims to optimise its transport network by introducing dedicated bus lines, expanding non-motorised transport and implementing intelligent transport systems to alleviate congestion and improve overall transportation efficiency,” RTDA director general Imenda Munyampanda said last December.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), which is expected to provide $12.5m as a parallel grant for the Kuti project, points up the problems in Kigali: “No-one knows when [the] bus will come because there is no timetable, and no one knows when [the] bus will leave at the bus terminal because [it] does not leave until it is full,” it says. “No-one knows which route the bus will go through because there is no bus route map.”
Rwanda has partially attributed the challenges in public transport in Kigali to the poor state of seven key junctions and lack - or non-utilisation - of ITS solutions and whose improvement and upgrading forms the core of the Kuti project.
Infrastructure improvement
The seven junctions crying out for improvement are: Chez Lando, Gishushu, Gisozi, Kibagabaga, Rwandex, Kicukiro/Sonatubes and Nyabugogo.
With the project, which is to be implemented before 2030, the government of Rwanda expects to address mobility problems with a proposal to upgrade three of the junctions in the first phase under four components: physical infrastructure improvement as the main works; public transport decarbonisation; provision of e-mobility solutions; and institutional support and project management.
“Junctions are functioning below acceptable levels and experiencing long queues with insufficient capacity”
In December, RTDA floated a tender for consultancy services for the 30-month project construction period, as well as during the 24 months of defects liability time, with financing from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Jica, ADF Climate Action Window (a strategic initiative designed to channel financial resources towards projects that address climate change in Africa) and Rwanda’s government.
The consultant will, among other assignments, review and approve the detailed designs of the three junctions - Chez Lando, Gishushu and Sonatubes - to be improved under Kuti for a more efficient, sustainable and accessible transportation network. More than 80% of Kigali’s road network is classified as unpaved, and it reportedly gets water-logged during the rainy season and dusty during dry periods, which contributes to vehicular traffic challenges.
Improving the physical infrastructure and introducing e-mobility solutions at the three junctions, as part of a wider transformation plan, is considered critical in tackling traffic congestion - especially during morning peak hours of 7am to 8am and 5pm to 6pm, when speeds are reduced to 17km/hour or lower.
RTDA says these road junctions are “functioning below acceptable levels and experiencing long queues with insufficient capacity especially during peak hours”.
Future urban mobility
At these three junctions, RTDA is constructing dedicated bus lanes and nodes, introducing e-mobility infrastructure, providing e-buses and developing the now lacking NMT such as footpaths, cycling tracks and traffic-calming crossings.
One of the latest project briefs by AfDB says the first phase of the Kuti project will “ease Kigali’s present and future urban mobility challenges and prepare the path for a just transition to a more sustainable and efficient urban transport system and thereby moving to a low-urban sector in line with the Paris Agreement”.
In the first component, estimated to cost $98m, the contractor will construct grade-separated junctions at Chez Lando, Gishushu, and Sonatubes as well as carry out geometric improvement of the roads on which the junctions are located.
For instance, at the Chez Lando junction, the contractor will construct grade separation by a 740m-long underpass tunnel, signalise the junction and upgrade the quality of the KN5 road’s elements such as shoulders, kerbs, friction, and carriageway breadth. The road crosses the roundabout in the east and west direction.
At the Gishushu junction, one of the six junctions that are signalised in Kigali and located at the main road to Kigali International Airport, the grade separation will be by a 500m-long flyover bridge and geometric improvement for the KN5 road that crosses the roundabout east to west. It has “high traffic volume compared with the south and north direction”, according to a previous study.
At the Sonatubes junction, which is located on the KN3 road that also leads to Kigali International airport and New Kigali International airport, the grade separation will be by a 620m-long underpass tunnel, signalisation and geometric improvement on the road.
At all three city junctions, there is installation of traffic signals but previous studies indicate that the current system “is outdated with a fixed cycle, stand-alone control”.
This means traffic police officers are needed to guide traffic flow manually during the peak hours.
Incentives for electric mobility
The second component of the Kuti project, estimated to cost $5 million, involves the procuring of at least 10 electric buses and the installation of electric charging infrastructure at designated spots in line with Rwanda’s long-term National Transport Policy and Strategy.
According to official reports by the Ministry of Infrastructure (Mininfra) - under which RTDA falls - the policy proposes, among other initiatives, the development of technical standards for e-vehicles, including environmental standards and regulations for the recycling of batteries and electronic waste.
The policy also calls for the introduction of “incentives for electric mobility users and early adopters”. These incentives can include a reduction of import duty on specific components and “attractive electricity tariffs for charging stations”.
It says the government, in partnership with the private sector, will “develop sound business models for charging infrastructure and vehicles and plans for the efficient placement of charging infrastructure”.
Moreover, the state’s transport policy calls for improving the electric grid’s reliability and the establishment of “a protocol of cooperation with countries and companies to facilitate technology transfer related to electric vehicles”.
The Kuti project is not the first to push for increased uptake of e-mobility options in solving transportation challenges; after the 2017 unveiling of the Smart Cities Blueprint, a framework is serving as a catalyst to fast-track ICT-driven initiatives across cities in Africa, including Kigali. Part of the initiative includes the introduction of more than 400 buses with a 4G internet connection, allowing passengers on board to have full access to free super-fast internet.
In October 2023, the Rwanda Development Board partnered with electric bus pioneer BasiGo and AC Mobility - Rwanda’s provider of automated fare collection systems for public transport - to experiment with the first electric buses in the landlocked country, an initiative that incorporated a few transport operators.
The partnership was designed to make electric buses affordable and accessible to Rwandan bus operating companies through BasiGo’s pay-as-you-drive financing. At least 200 new electric buses were expected in Rwanda by the end of 2024 using this model.
“Electric buses will be more cost-effective for operators while also dramatically reducing air pollution and CO2 emissions,” said BasiGo CEO and co-founder Jit Bhattacharya when the partnership was launched.
Rapid transformation
Rwanda’s rapid transformation has created the need for more robust and cost-effective public transport, said Jones Kizihira, CEO of AC Mobility Rwanda.
“The electric buses will help ease the cost burden of public bus transporters and advance Rwanda’s transition to clean mobility,” he added.
Moreover, Jica has, in a separate report, pushed for the integration of the seven road junctions in Kigali to two separate control centres that are to be developed and operationalised to ensure the long-term success of the Kuti project and RTDA’s general Kigali city mobility development plan.
Jica says first of these, a traffic control centre, comes with a signal control platform comprising advanced signal and sensor/detector systems.
Meanwhile, the city control centre comes with four signal control systems including bus control, road operation and maintenance, with the option of introducing other control systems in future.
Bus control comes with a public transport priority system and bus location information, while the road operation/maintenance system enables the utilisation of Weigh in Motion.
However, AfDB, the main promoter of the Kuti project, says the e-mobility component of the undertaking faces challenges including significant upfront expenditure for electric buses and charging infrastructure, as well as the difficulty of “adapting to new technology, ensuring reliability and sustainable energy supply, and promoting public awareness campaigns”.
The other project components include the $11.4m environmental and social management and compliance and $5.6m institutional support and project management.
RTDA director general Imena Munyampanda says Kigali is in dire need of a modern urban transportation system as the city grapples with increasingly busy roads. Improvement is also required because of the Rwandan capital’s emerging role as one of East Africa’s transportation hubs, connecting the Northern Corridor - a network of roads and railway lines anchored on the Kenyan Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa - to the Central Corridor, which connects the port of Dar es Salaam by road, rail and inland waterways to Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The City of Kigali serves as a central hub for transport corridors; congestion is observed particularly on the corridors connected to national roads,” Munyampanda said.
Implementation of the Kuti project’s e-mobility component comes at a time when Rwanda is in the throes of strengthening the country’s ambitious EV regime. This comes with several incentives, despite a difficult transitioning period from internal combustion engine vehicles - especially buses - to electric ones.
Embracing e-mobility
The government has unveiled several incentives, such as capping of the electricity tariff for charging stations at the industrial tariff level, reduced tariff during the off-peak time for EVs and zero-rated VAT on EVs, spare parts, batteries and charging station equipment.
Other incentives for embracing e-mobility include exemption of import and excise duties on EVs, spare parts, batteries and charging station equipment as well as exemption of withholding tax of 5% at customs.
“Rwanda has partially attributed the challenges in Kigali to the poor state of seven key junctions and lack of ITS solutions”
Private investors participating in the Kuti project are also likely to benefit from other non-fiscal incentives such as provision of rent-free government land for setting up charging stations, and provisions for EV charging stations in the building code and city planning rules.
Furthermore, a Mininfra report says vehicles with green licence plates will get preferential treatment in parking, free entry into congested zones and free licence and authorisation for commercial EVs.
Mininfra says firms licenced to manufacture and assemble EVs including battery EVs and plug-in hybrids in Rwanda “are given other incentives in the investment code such as 15% corporate income tax and tax holiday, irrespective of the investment value.”
At least five companies including Volkswagen, Ampersand, Safi Universal Links, Rwanda Electric Motorcycle Company, and Victoria Motors Rwanda have set up charging stations, battery swapping stations, or introduced e-motorcycles or e-motos, many of them within the city of Kigali.
