Kigali City Tower
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| Kigali City Tower | |
|---|---|
 Buildings in Kigali CBD, including Kigali City Tower (right) | |
  Location within Rwanda | |
| General information | |
| Location | Kigali, Rwanda, Avenue du Commerce (KN 67 Street) |
| Coordinates | 1°56′36″S 30°03′35″E / 1.9433°S 30.0596°E |
| Construction started | 2006 |
| Completed | 2011 |
| Cost | USD 20 million |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 20 |
| Design and construction | |
| Main contractor | China Civil Engineering Construction |
Kigali City Tower is a mixed use high rise office and retail building located in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The complex consists of a 20-story tower, the tallest in the country, a four-story commercial center and a car park block, with space divided between leased office space and retail outlets.
The building, on the site of a former bus station, was developed by Rwandan businessman Hatari Sekoko and built by Chinese engineers. The building work began in 2006 and the complex opened in 2011.
Since his accession to power in 2000, President Paul Kagame has sought to transform Rwanda from an impoverished country dependent on subsistence agriculture into a middle income country with a strong service sector.[1] This policy, which is based on liberalising the economy, privatising state owned industries and reducing red tape for businesses,[2] has led to a strong GDP growth between 2004 and 2010 of 8% per year.[2] The changing economy has prompted a construction boom as the need for office and urban residential space has increased.[3]
The Kigali City Tower project was begun in 2006[4] by Rwandan businessman Hatari Sekoko, through his company Doyelcy Limited.[5] Sekoko, a Rwandan Patriotic Front veteran of the Rwandan Civil War,[6] worked in Japan from 1995 to raise capital,[7] before returning to Rwanda to start a coffee distribution business and later diversifying into real estate and hospitality.[6] The first phase of the project was the construction of the car park building, which began in 2007.[8] At that stage the tower was proposed as a circular building with a spiral design, which would act primarily as a viewing platform.[8] By 2008,[citation needed] Sekoko's team had changed the building's shape to elliptical in order to create more floor space within the tower.[6]
Sekoko contracted Chinese company China Civil Engineering Construction to construct the building,[9] and also sourced raw materials from his own depot in Guangzhou, China.[7] The building was completed in early 2011,[4] and retailers and companies began to occupy the space thereafter.[10] A three-screen Century Cinema complex was completed in March 2013 and opened in May 2013[11] but has since closed.
