The frequency and intensity of flooding, exacerbated by climate change, has been increasing in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, home to more than 1.7 million people. For example, in late 2019 and early 2020, flood events damaged more than 100 homes and killed more than a dozen people. In addition to the human impacts, the increasing frequency and intensify of floods in Kigali threatens to severely disrupt vital socioeconomic infrastructure, including in the transportation sector. Kigali’s largest and busiest public transportation terminal is in a flood-prone area, and some of the Rwandan capital’s bus lanes run alongside areas vulnerable to flooding.

In response to these challenges, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), including through the Japan-World Bank Program for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries (the Japan Program), has been supporting technical assessments and capacity-building, which are accelerating Rwanda’s efforts to increase the resilience of transportation infrastructure in Kigali. This initiative aligns with Rwanda’s Vision 2050 and Kigali’s Master Plan 2050, both of which prioritize the need to establish safe, affordable, accessible, sustainable transportation systems for all Rwandans. In undertaking the analytical work, the technical team has engaged with a wide range of government agencies, such as the Rwanda Transport Development Agency and relevant city agencies in Kigali.

A key contribution of GFDRR and the Japan Program has been its support for in-depth technical assessments of flood risk in Kigali, which have begun to drive and inform these efforts to increase the resilience of the capital’s transportation infrastructure. Findings of these assessments are directly informing the preparation of the planned Rwanda Urban Mobility Project, which the World Bank expects to support and is designed to support the country’s efforts to strengthen public transport in Kigali, among other initiatives for enhancing access to services and jobs and improving connectivity.

At the most basic level, the assessments have crystallized the business case for investments in the resilience of Kigali’s transportation infrastructure. For instance, one of the assessments highlighted the severe disruptions to connectivity that flood events have caused, showing that, when floods disrupt bus services in Kigali, there is an average 5- to 15-minute delay, with 42 percent of routes being rerouted and 18 percent canceled.

The assessments have also highlighted the need to focus Rwanda’s resilience-building in Kigali’s transport sector on highrisk locations such as Kigali’s Nyabugogo transportation hub. With estimated daily traffic of 100,000 passengers, the hub is the largest and busiest public transportation transfer terminal in Kigali. The assessments have revealed that water from the Nyabugogo wetland valley can overflow into the dedicated bus line located east of the terminal.

In addition to the need to focus resilience-building efforts on high-risk locations, the technical assessments also shed light on possible resilience-building measures in Kigali’s transport sector – drawing on Japanese experience. For example, the assessments highlighted the possibilities around permeable pavements, citing their increasing popularity in Japan across different road types spread all over the country. Permeable pavements allow rain to seep through the surface down to underlying layers of soil and gravel, thus potentially reducing the risk of flooding.

GFDRR and the Japan Program have also supported a training and technical assistance program to increase the capacity of relevant stakeholders in Kigali to manage the risks that the assessments revealed. For example, technical teams have engaged with municipal officials to help lay the foundation for risk-informed management of transportation assets, with private bus operators to assist in preliminary efforts to integrate business continuity planning. The assessments had shown that a shutdown of bus service in Kigali because of flooding will greatly affect not only users, but also the private operators, whose livelihoods rely on the farebox revenue earned through bus operations. 

Drawing extensively on Japanese expertise and experience, GFDRR support for resilient transport in Rwanda are part of the longstanding engagement by the both the facility and the program in the sector globally. In Africa alone, GFDRR and the Japan Program support for resilient transport has spanned over a dozen countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. 

This story was updated to include additional information in June 2025.