A plan first made public in October 2015 on how unplanned slum settlements can be turned into quality condos in accordance with the City of Kigali’s master plan is within reach, officials told The New Times yesterday. The Mayor of Kigali, Monique Mukaruliza, and the Executive Director of Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Robert Mathu, say a consultant tasked with conducting the initial study had presented encouraging findings and stakeholders will sit in January and map the way forward. ... The City is looking to help its slum dwellers get modern housing in well-planned environments. During the inaugural stakeholders’ meeting more than a year ago, bankers, real estate developers, architects and engineers discussed how existing unplanned settlements could be turned into sustainable condos with quality shelter in accordance with the City’s master plan. “The consultant is coming back in January to see about progress. Stakeholders including the City of Kigali, the national housing authority, and others will sit and discuss implementation,” Mathu said. “The study indicated that the project is feasible but it requires coordination by all concerned entities. There was optimism”. Kigali has a population of about 1.2 million people, projected to reach 3.8 million by 2040. ... The main idea is that even though slums might appear congested, the problem is not population density so much as it is poor land use. In this regard, it is believed that – as has been done in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere – a good architect can build a larger apartment that needs much less land and costs less to build.