The municipality of Kigali in Rwanda released a one of its kind master plan to guide development for the coming 30 years. The plan is called “Kigali Yacu” – “Our Kigali” in Kinyarwanda.
In spite of the friendly local name, the plan of the government for Rwanda’s capital city was actually developed by a foreign entity called Surbana Jurong, a worlwide firm that is owned by the government of Singapore and has emerged as a potent force in city planning across Africa.
In the last five years, Surbana has become the most sought planner in Africa, penning contracts in at least ten countries. Apart from Kigali, Surbana has been signed on to plan Kinshasa (capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo), Brazzaville (capital of the Republic of Congo), Libreville (capital of Gabon), Bujumbura (capital of Burundi), Conakry (capital of Guinea), Luanda (capital of Angola) and Lagos (Nigeria’s commercial centre). In the same vein, Ghana has hired Surbana to work out a plan for a tract so big that it constitutes half the acreage in the country and Tanzania and Rwanda have asked the firm to plan many smaller cities.
While none of these countries have revealed why they selected Surbana, the firm has at least carved a niche for itself. Before it became a separate business entity in 2003, it was the Building and Development Division of Singapore. Also, it is deeply connected to the city state’s political structure that exists till date.
The government of Singapore has been able to erect solid infrastructure and decent structures across the city, and these structures were built by the firm. This made the firm appealing to African leaders who desire to put in place better plan for the continent.
Surbana will not release the details of work done in any of these countries. As claimed by a spokesperson, the planning documents are “owned by the clients” and the countries have not released any document as well.
