If you build it, they may not come

摘要

BEETHOVEN'S "Fur Elise" floats through the lift of Makuza Peace Plaza, a shiny new office block, as it climbs to the 12th floor. Opened with fanfare by Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president, in 2015, Makuza is one of several new high-rises in the central business district of the capital, Kigali. But the music has an eerie quality as you rise to the building's summit. This is because, from the seventh floor up, Makuza is empty. For a city pitching itself as east Africa's business hub, under-occupied skyscrapers look bad. So at the start of the year the government took action. Letters were sent to thousands of businesses ordering them to hew to the city's master plan and move to designated commercial buildings by March 31st. Confusion and panic ensued, as startups and even ngos scrambled for space in the limited number of reasonably priced buildings available. In the area around Makuza, office space costs on average nearly $20 a month per square metre, as much as four times what it would be outside. "It's been a nightmare," says one exasperated foreign businesswoman, who fears she may have to move to Kampala, in neighbouring Uganda.