Rwanda's $49m Green Village to Resettle 547 Volcanoes Park Families
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Rwanda is building a $49 million Smart Green Village on a 50-hectare site in Musanze District to resettle families affected by the expansion of Volcanoes National Park, with the first phase expected to house 547 households.
Families set to be resettled to make way for the expansion of Volcanoes National Park are expected to move into a new settlement offering modern housing, basic services and livelihood opportunities under a $49 million Smart Green Village project, according to the Rwanda Development Board.
The village is being developed on a 50-hectare site in Rurembo Village, Kinigi Sector, Musanze District. Construction was launched on August 27, with the first phase expected to accommodate 547 households affected by the park’s expansion.
Resident Agnes Mukarwego, who is expected to resettle with her family, said residents were first informed about the planned relocation in 2018, while the first valuation of their property was carried out in 2021. She said about 80 per cent of affected residents have already been paid, while a few others have not yet been paid because they do not have all the necessary documents.
The Smart Green Village is planned to provide modern housing alongside water and sanitation facilities, electricity, health and education facilities, and community spaces. It will also include climate-smart agriculture facilities, greenhouses, irrigation systems, agricultural processing facilities and renewable energy infrastructure, as well as eco-lodges and community tourism facilities.
The village forms part of the wider Volcanoes Community Resilience Project, which includes the planned expansion of Volcanoes National Park by about 3,740 hectares and the establishment of roughly 6,620 hectares of buffer zones. The wider programme is expected to improve livelihoods for more than 17,000 people, representing about 3,400 households, at an estimated cost of about $300 million over 10 years.
Patrick Nsabimana, country coordinator for the African Wildlife Foundation in Rwanda, which is partnering with the government on the broader programme, said the model was designed to address inadequate housing, limited access to basic infrastructure and small land holdings. He said residents would be connected to skills training, microfinance and an agriculture hub that aggregates small-scale producers’ output for larger buyers such as hotels and supermarkets.