Kigali City Master Plan was awarded two gold awards for master planning at the Singapore Institute of Planners (SIP) Planning Awards 2021, out of the more than 90 submissions made this year. Surbana Jurong, a Singapore Consultant, made the submission. They are the Gold Award for Excellence in Planning >5000 HA and the inaugural Gold Award for Excellence in planning for Community Engagement and Social Inclusiveness.

On Thursday 2^nd December 2021, the High Commission of the Republic of Rwanda to Singapore and Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd celebrated the achievement of the two Gold Awards with a small ceremony at the Surbana Jurong Global Academy. The High Commissioner of Rwanda to Singapore, H.E. Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, was invited as the Guest of Honour, and he was received by Mr Yeo Siew Haip, Chief Executive Officer of Surbana Jurong Global Architecture (Southeast Asia and North Asia). Also present were Surbana Jurong Consultants's Master Planning team members who had worked on the Kigali City Master Plan.

During the ceremony, Mr Anandan Karunakaran, Deputy Managing Director of Master Planning at Surbana Jurong Consultants, introduced the Awards and the award-winning projects. He highlighted the implementation of Imbuga City Walk as a key milestone of the project, where the idea of designing community areas in Kigali city was introduced in the first Kigali City Master Plan in 2008.

This was followed by an address from H.E. Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, where he congratulated Surbana Jurong Consultants for their achievements with the Kigali City Master Plan since the project began in 2008, and highlighted the awards as a testimony that the Master Plan will be key in making Kigali an example of Excellence in Urbanisation for the rest of the African continent. His Excellency observed that the partnership between Rwanda and Surbana Jurong has grown from strength to strength and expressed hopes that the awards will pave the way for further collaboration and the expansion of partnership towards implementation and capacity-building efforts.  

Mr Yeo Siew Haip, Chief Executive Officer of Surbana Jurong Global Architecture (Southeast Asia and North Asia), remarked that the awards are a validation of the close cooperation between Rwanda and Surbana Jurong. He expressed his excitement about the future of Rwanda and looked forward to greater achievements in the development of Rwanda supported by World Class Master Planning.

In previous editions of the SIP Planning Awards, Surbana Jurong Consultants had submitted the Kigali City Master Plan project, for which they won the Best Planning project in 2013 and the Merit Award for Best Urban Design Plan in 2019.

The SIP Planning Awards is a biennial program that recognises urban planners, urban designers, and allied professionals for their excellence in local and overseas projects.

About Surbana Jurong

Surbana Jurong Group is a global urban, infrastructure and managed services consulting firm with over 70 years of track record in successful project delivery. Headquartered in Singapore, the group has a global talent pool of 16,000 across Surbana Jurong and their member companies AETOS, Atelier Ten, B+H, KTP, Prostruct, RBG, SAA, Sino-Sun and SMEC, based in more than 120 offices in over 40 countries. They include architects, designers, planners, engineers and other specialists driven by progressive thinking and creative ideas to help shape a better future.

About Singapore Institute of Planners

The Singapore Institute of Planners is a professional organisation established in 1971 dedicated to advancing sustainable urban and regional planning to create better communities and environments.

3rd December 2021

Note: The awards and ceremony was also reported by IGIHE in Kinyarwanda.