Developing an Infrastructure X-Ray in Rwanda: Data Collection Part 3

Developing Infrastructure Networks in Support of Humanitarian Assistance Missions

A quick recap, if you haven’t been following our recent publications. In our previous blog posts:

Recently, we visited Kigali, Rwanda on a data collection visit in support of an Infrastructure Network project for the Network Science Center at West Point. First, we introduced recent events in Mali that illustrated our research motivation. Second, we introduced our research goals, and some key members of our team: John Mugabe and Caleb Gage, both cadets at the United States Military Academy. Third, Val Dike, Jr, Lead Researcher, Storm King Analytics, and graduate student in the Master of Science in Industrial Engineering (MSIE) Program at Georgia Tech, gives an account of the day 1 activities of our data collection efforts on the ground in Kigali, Rwanda. Finally, we ended with discussion of the challenges in the Data Collection Part 2 post.

In this post, we will continue to discuss the challenges encountered, in the remaining sectors.

Day 3 and 4 on the Ground

We continued our data collection efforts with the Gatenga sector. As a quick geographical orientation, the Gatenga sector is located in the South Central area of Kigali. Its southern border spans along KK30 Ave, a well known road in the sector. This is an East-West Dirt Road that runs parallel with the peak of a high ridgeline area. In the north, Gatenga is bordered by KK8 Ave. KK 8 Ave is a major road that runs east to west through the central part of Kigali. The eastern border is KK15 Rd, a major highway that runs from the north to the south of the sector.

As we walked through the Gatenga sector, we noticed that it was “less concrete” than the previous sectors we surveyed on Day 1 and 2 . In other words, it had more of a rural feel to it. Walking through the Gatenga sector reminded me of some rural villages in the eastern part of Nigeria. The aesthetic similarities were stunning! To our surprise, we did not encounter many large compounds. The large compounds that we did encounter were mainly (what appeared to be) religious and charity organizations on KK 30 Ave. Towards the middle to the end of the sector, we noticed a small commercial area. This area is a customs compound, called Magerwa.

Challenges in Gatenga Sector

We experienced a lot of terrain challenges. First, there was a lot of inconsistency between the resources that were pre-identified on the open source map and the resoures that we physically observed while walking the sectors. Considering that Kigali’s addressing system is relatively new, this was not a major shock. Second, some of the dirt roads were not conducive for vehicle travel. As a result, we had to physically walk some of the roads. This affected our progress, as we were forced to move expeditiously through these dirt roads to record as many resources in our allotted time frame.

Muhima

The Muhima sector is located in West Kigali. Muhima’s north and south boundaries are KN 1 Rd and KN7 Rd, respectively. KN 8 Ave, is a diagonol bisection that runs across Muhima. On the exterior of the bisection are patches of paved and dirt roads.

We came across a few government compounds such as the Rwandan National Police Traffic Office and the National Post Office. The area along KN7 Ave consists of industrial businesses, commercial businesses and hotels. By far, this was probably the busiest sector in Kigali city. The Nyabugogo Taxi Park is a large taxi park located near KN7 Ave.

Keeping the fundamentals of humanitarian operations in mind, we found this taxi park to be a unique resource. Why?…It’s a large bus parking area. Typically, in humanitarian operations, large areas often serve as staging grounds for displaced people and resources. At the intersection of RN1 and RN3 is the largest bus depot in Kigali. It’s important to mention that we observed an abundance of fuel stations.

Day 5 and 6 on the Ground

Kacyiru Sector

Kacyiru sector is located in the central eastern part of Kigali City. It runs from the northeast to the southeast. KG 7 Ave, a four-lane boulevard with a median, runs from a traffic circle near the Kigali Convention Center to another traffic circle that is in close proximity to the U.S. Embassy. We found the development along KG 7 Ave to be mind blowing! Along KG 7 Ave, were modern styled buildings that housed various ministries of government and hotels. Parallel to KG 7 Ave is KN 8Ave. KN 8 Ave runs directly through the rest of the sector past the U.S. Embassy.

The Kigali Library, the National Police Headquarters, and the Police Hospital were additional observations key. Again, in the context of an emergency operation, these are large buildings that can potentially serve as safe havens for displaced citizens.

In our next post, we will continue to discuss our observations of the remaining sectors in our data collection effort, our briefing with a Brigadier General in the Rwanda Defense Force and our visit to the Rwanda Parliament.