HOW RWANDAN ARE LOOKING AT INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO UNPAVED ROAD

In a bid to help resolve the nation’s unpaved roads,  the Government has considered the use of a Do-nou technology to repair unpaved roads that are damaged by heavy rains and occasional floods in the neighborhoods of Kigali city and other parts of the country, local leaders and dwellers have recommended.

The technology was used over the weekend during Umuganda-community work to repair different damaged roads across the country.  Do-nou is a Japanese Word that means wrapping soil in a gunny bag.

Do-nou technology involves the use of gunny bags filled appropriately with murram, sand, gravel, or farm soil and tied to repair impassable roads.

The local community in neighborhoods of Kigali during community work to repair unpaved roads using Do-nou technology.

According to engineers, the technology makes use of locally available materials and purely labor-based technology which is easy to learn, understand and adapt among the community people. With simple maintenance preferably after every rainy season, the road is durable, they say.

Residents of Kicukiro District where the technology was used on Saturday said that several roads had been damaged by floods in the community and therefore the technology can be used at the time there is no budget to tar roads.

“There was a big problem of floods damaging the neighborhood roads because they are not drained. The flooding from the roads has also been damaging people’s houses around. The vehicles were also not crossing because the damaged roads are impassable,” said Theogene Karasanyi, a resident of Kanombe sector, Kicukiro District.

He added people who need transport services for their different business activities are facing constraints amidst the heavy rains paralyzing transport in some parts.

“We have the road which is even used by trucks but the road needs rehabilitation. As the community work returns, we hope that the technology they have used on repairing one part of the road can be scaled up,” added Josephine Nyirasafari, another resident.

Idrissa Nkurunziza, The Executive Secretary of Kanombe Sector said that several community roads are being damaged by floods and there is a need for support to maintain the damaged roads.

“Karama was previously looking like a rural area but after settlement sites were demarcated, many people are coming to live there. But the roads are impassable for vehicles, especially during the rainy season. Therefore Do-nou technology is timely as an affordable and cheap technology,” he said adding that community works can lower the cost.

Yuko Chiba, a project manager of the Community Road Empowerment organization that finances the scaling up of Do-nou technology, said that it is being used in 11 districts of the country.

“The technology uses soil put inside the bags to strengthen and upgrade the road by compacting. Since 2018 we have covered 11 districts so far. We are targeting all districts by 2024 and we are training the representatives of the road maintenance cooperatives and VUP technicians to use the technology with available local materials,” she said.

While Do-nou technology was used to repair some flooded-damaged neighborhood roads, The City of Kigali has said it is working on several projects to reduce the impact of floods on roads across the city.

The City of Kigali has said that it is conducting studies on six high critical flooding spots and a stormwater management master plan to mitigate floods in the long term.

Meanwhile, the city officials said that during the forthcoming heavy rainy season, the city is implementing and mobilizing all citizens to the short-term solutions of stormwater management to reduce flooding and disasters caused by heavy rains.

The interventions, he said, include regular cleaning of roadside drainage and stormwater channels, desilting at critical flooded spots as well as excavation of retention ponds to hold extra water and silts during times of flooding.

Other interventions include maintenance of ravines, planting trees and vegetations to retain soil to prevent landslides, greening alongside roads and unprotected areas, expansion of the existing stormwater drainage structures to increase their conveyance capacity of the rainwater runoff, retaining walls, gabions walls, stone pitching to prevent land sliding among others. So far, Drainage rehabilitation is among the most needed interventions to curb floods in the city.

The City needs over Rwf30 Billion in funding for rehabilitating and expanding several drainages that usually cause flooding in the country’s capital. Within the last three years, only eight new standalone ravines/drainages have been constructed, Officials said.

Mpazi drainage is one of the dangerous drains that needed widening to save Nyabugogo businesses from flood-caused losses.

Emmanuel Katabarwa, the City Engineer, On Saturday, March 26, said that building a new road as part of expansion works for Mpazi drainage is starting this week to control floods it has been causing.

“There are two bridges that had to be expanded on the drainages. The works on the upper bridge will take between two and three months,” he said.

The City of Kigali has said that the increase in the cost of constructing two bridges to Rwf7 billion on the Mpazi channel to tackle flooding in the Nyabugogo commercial area resulted from the abnormally rising rainwater levels in Kigali occasioned by climate change.

Meanwhile, he said more drainages are being expanded to control floods. “We have set up flood control facilities in areas of Rwampala, Kanogo, Kinamba, and others,” he said.