Roads in Rwanda
The transport system in Rwanda centres primarily around the road network. Paved roads lie between the capital, Kigali, and most other major cities and towns in the country. Rwanda is also linked by road with other countries in the African Great Lakes, via which the majority of the country's imports and exports are made.
A large amount of investments in the transport infrastructure has been made by the government since the 1994 genocide, with aid from the European Union, China, Japan and others.
The road network
Rwanda has a total of 12,000 km (7,500 mi) of roads, of which 1,000 km (620 mi) are paved.[1] The remainder are dirt roads with quality varying from smooth hard surfaces with drainage to rutted, extremely uneven tracks passable only with a four-wheel drive vehicle.
Vehicles in the country drive on the right-hand side of the road. However, the three largest members of the East African Community (EAC) to which Rwanda is a part of, including neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda, drive on the left. It is significantly cheaper to import vehicles designed to drive on the left than on the right, possibly due to the second hand market from India and Japan being cheaper than that of Europe, so more of these cars were imported until the government banned their import in 2005 due to safety concerns. Due to the difference in car price, and the potential to better economically integrate with other EAC and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa countries, the government has considered switching the country to driving on the left.[2]
Paved roads
Most of the main towns in the country are now connected by paved road. The condition of these roads was until recently very poor, with numerous pot-holes and vehicles often driving on the dirt verges since these were deemed smoother than the road itself. A recent government programme of upgrading and resurfacing means that most major routes are now in good condition.
The major urban arteries of Kigali, as well as the high streets in Ruhengeri, Kibuye, and Gisenyi are dual carriageways, but all national long distance roads are single carriageway. There are no motorways in Rwanda.
The principal routes are (refer to map for number references):
| # | Start | End | Via | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kigali | Gatuna (Uganda border) | Byumba | The main road through the north of the country, this is the main route to Kabale and Kampala in Uganda |
| 2 | Kigali | Kayonza | Rwamagana | Leads east from the capital. Resurfacing of this road was recently completed, and it features Rwanda's first proper bypass around the town of Rwamagana |
| 2a | Kayonza | Kagitumba (Uganda border) | Nyagatare | A continuation of road 2, running to the far northeast of the country. Prior to 1994, most of this road was within the Akagera National Park, but the area has now been settled, largely by refugees who returned from Uganda after the war. |
| 2b | Kayonza | Rusumo (Tanzania border) | Kibungo | The main route into Tanzania, running down to the far southeast of the country. The border is a high bridge over the Kagera River (which is also part of the most distant headwater of the Nile) |
| 3 | Kigali | Fugi (Burundi border) | Gitarama, Butare | The road linking the main two cities of Rwanda as well as being the main link to Bujumbura, the largest city and former capital of Burundi. The section south of Gitarama was resurfaced in 2004. |
| 3a | Gitarama | Kibuye, Rwanda | This road was surfaced for the first time by Chinese engineers within the last decade, running through very hilly terrain and crossing the Nile/Congo watershed. | |
| 3b | Butare | Cyangugu (DRC border) | Gikongoro | A very stretch of road running through the heart of Nyungwe Forest and ending on the shores of Lake Kivu. It also links to the Congolese city of Bukavu. |
| 4 | Kigali | Gisenyi (DRC border) | Ruhengeri | A road that passes first through the hilly areas around Mount Kabuye and then turns west to head along the southern edge of the Virunga volcano chain, before ending up at Gisenyi, on the shores of Lake Kivu. The road continues into Goma in the DRC. |
| 4a | Ruhengeri | Cyanika (Uganda border) | A road linking to Ruhengeri to Kisoro in Uganda. Passes very close to Mount Muhabura and has a vista right along the Virunga chain. | |
| 5 | Kigali | Burundi border | Nyamata | The road was paved a fairly recently since the government of Rwanda is considering building a new international airport near the town of Nyamata.[3] |
There is also one road that is currently a quite poor-quality dirt road, but it may soon be upgraded to paved status:
- The road running along Lake Kivu between Cyangugu, Kibuye and Gisenyi, since these towns are now linked politically in by the newly formed Western Province.
References
- ^ "CIA World Factbook - Rwanda".
- ^ Bari, Md Mahabubul (29 July 2014). "The study of the possibility of switching driving side in Rwanda". European Transport Research Review. 6: 439–444. doi:10.1007/s12544-014-0144-2.
- ^ "Investments". Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2012-09-05.