Police warn against violating traffic rules
The Rwanda National Police (RNP) traffic and road safety department has reminded drivers to refrain from bad maneuvers which continue to be the source of road carnage.
Supt. Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi, the spokesperson of the traffic department said that some of the public transport vehicles also have mechanical faults and operating on expired mechanical inspection certificates
His reaction followed at least six road accidents that occurred on February that claimed 15 lives and leaving scores injured.
“Most of these accidents are due to speeding and overtaking in hotspots especially public transport vehicles that commute to the countryside scrambling for passengers along the way thus violating traffic rules and regulations and putting the lives of people in danger,” said Supt. Ndushabandi.
“There are many sharp corners along highways and there’s a high risk of involving in an accident if you enter and try to negotiate them while on high speed. There’s also a risk of colliding with another vehicle from the opposite direction or going off the road, after failure to control the vehicle. Drivers should therefore behave and drive responsibly while respecting roadside safety signposts to prevent likely accidents.”
RNP also reminded owners of public transport vehicles to speed up the installation of speed governors before the February 26official deadline.
Article 2 of the Presidential Order that sets February 26, this year as the deadline stipulates that “any public or goods’ transport vehicle must be equipped with speed governors to control maximum road speed.”
Read MoreRwanda eyes AviaDev conference in Kigali to boost aviation, hotels
Rwanda is looking at the forth coming AviaDev, an international conference to be held in Kigali as an opportunity to further boost its Aviation and hospitality sectors.
The country has attained high rankings by World Bank doing business report 2016 as one of the easiest place of doing business on the continent, which the government says would wish to boost and attract more investments into the country.
“We want to showcase Rwanda as a key destination to do business,” said Belise Kariza, Chief Tourism Officer at the Rwanda Development Board –RDB on Thursday.
She says, “A forum focused on aviation developments, AviaDev, provides an important platform for the aviation and hotel sectors to discuss future development projects and forge new relationships.”
The government in a bid to strengthen the hospitality sector embarked on encouraging more investments in Hotels to close the shortage of accommodation in the country.
The AviaDev platform conference which is expected to be held in Kigali on 4 October at the Radisson Hotel and convention centre will come before the prestigious Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) scheduled for 5th and 6th October, 2016.
“AviaDev Africa will be a valuable opportunity for leading executives from aviation and hotel development to have some serious and fruitful discussions on how to develop the future connectivity of the continent.” said
Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of Bench Events organizers of the forum.
He adds, “Leading airlines, airport and hotel executives, alongside government representatives, will be able to explore the crucial link between aviation and hotel investment.”
The AviaDev provides a unique platform bringing together airlines, airports, hotel and hospitality investors for the first time, Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) is the premier hotel investment conference in Africa, attracting over 500 high-calibre executives from 45 countries, as well as key Government representatives.
Read MoreKigali re-introduces cashless bus fare
Commuters in Kigali are now required to use a cashless public transport card to commute within the city.
Public transport passengers with in Kigali will compulsorily begin using cashless system to pay for transport fares starting with March 2016, but some residents have raised concerns over the new development.
Speaking to this website, Charles Ngarambe, executive chairperson of Kigali Bus Services, said using a smart card will help passengers time that was wasted when they would queue up to buy tickets which was only done using cash.
“The cash system was delays the buses. The use of smart card not only saves time, but also protects the environment and keeps the city clean as we will have gotten rid of paper tickets,” he explained.
Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) says that the new system to ease monitoring of the public transport system and ensure efficiency, a move that is expected to enhance Rwanda’s goal of becoming a cashless society.
The use of technology is not reliable and as you may see there are many uneducated adults who would prefer to use tangible money systems…we are afraid this will be too much for citizen consumption” one of the passengers said.
Emmanuel Asaba Katabarwa, the head of transport department at RURA said that the new system will be gradually develop and residents will be educated on its use.
Three more three companies will be contracted to disseminate the services.
The phase out will be gradual and the initial route that will fully embrace the electronic system is the Kanombe route.
Any passenger leaving Kanombe for Remera, Kacyiru or the city center will only be allowed to board the bus if they have a smart card.
This kind of system had earlier on been introduced two years ago within the city dwellers on an individual convenience but slowly died out and the use of hard cash has been the norm of the daily transport, though some use of electronic payments has been acceptable.
KBS has been at the forefront in embracing the cashless system, but the stakeholders are optimistic the other companies will join in once they have appreciated the advantages.
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