Kigali City Tower 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. This policy, which is based on liberalising the economy, privatising state owned industries and reducing red tape for businesses, has led to a strong GDP growth between 2004 and 2010 of per year. The changing economy has prompted a construction boom as the need for office and urban residential space has increased. The Kigali City Tower project was begun in 2006 by Rwandan businessman Hatari Sekoko, through
Kigali new independent nation, but Kigali was chosen because of its more central location. The city grew slowly during the following decades, but retained a small-town feel, with just 25,000 people and five paved roads by the early 1970s. On 6 July 1973 there was a bloodless military coup, in which minister of defence Juvénal Habyarimana overthrew ruling president Gregoire Kayibanda. Businesses closed for a few days, and troops patrolled across the city, but life had returned to normal and the army had left the streets by 11 July. In April 1994 President Habyarimana was assassinated, when his plane was shot