Rwanda to reduce number of provinces to five

into only four provinces and Kigali city with 30 districts and 500 sectors. The minister further revealed that, the names of the new provinces are yet to be decided upon, but in the meantime they will be known as Northern,  Eastern, Western and Southern provinces, with the towns of Rwamagana and Nyanza emerging as headquarters of the eastern and southern provinces.

According to a new map available at the ministry certain areas will also assume new names, with the new names appearing in all the five provinces.

The minister continued to say that each sector will be populated by 15,000 to 20,000 people, and water and electricity services will be improved, alluding to the rampant water and electricity shortages that have ravaged the country for over a year now.

Fielding questions from the reporters, the minister responded by stressing that the exercise will benefit locals more than inconvenience them, and disclosed that the action will restore order to the somewhat inefficient grass root levels.

"Nothing can be only positive, everything has its advantages and disadvantages, but in this case the advantages tend to outweigh the disadvantages," the minister articulated.

He also said the refurbishing of the existing offices and headquarters to suit the new developments will cost an estimated 3bn Rwandan francs.

Mr. Musoni was also quoted as saying that the exercise will improve the services offered by the districts since more workers will be operating from one base.

The country has undergone numerous reforms including the changing of the national anthem, flag, emblem, public reform and now the administrative divisions.

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