17 November 2013, Kigali — Today, the Prime Minister Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi announced to Parliament that the government plans to almost double electricity generation from the current 110.8 megawatts to 210.8 megawatts from by the end of next fiscal year (2013/14). This means that the number of households who have access to electricity from 360,000 to 450,000.
The Prime Minister was in Parliament to present the priority projects to be undertaken by the government during fiscal year 2013/14 based on EDPRS 2.
Speaking on how the government will double electricity generation, Dr. Habumuremyi indicated that studies have been undertaken and construction will begin of various power plants.
Nyabarongo power plant that will generate 28 megawatts of electricity, Kivuwatt 25 megawatts, Gishoma 15 megawatts, Giciye four megawatts and Rukarara II which will generate up to 2.2 megawatts in power.
According to the Prime Minister, the development projects for the next fiscal year will be under the four main pillars of the economy, social well being, governance and justice.
“The selected projects are under these pillars because we realised that they will help us achieve our development targets and above all grow our economy by an average of an annual growth of 11.5% and lead to reductions of extreme poverty as projected in EDPRS 2.”
He indicated that in a bid to improve the economy, the government plans to increase productivity to reduce the gap between exports and imports. As well, the government plans to improve infrastructure and transport by building new roads and the Bugesera airport.
On social welfare, the government plans to increase water supply by 5.3% by distributing water over a 440.25 km distance to cover 280 rural and urban areas.
Rwanda also plans to increase mining production from 7,630 to 9,800 tons per year.
In order to support Rwanda’s drive to a knowledge based economy, the government will continue to invest in the education sector. A nursery school in every sector will be built. As well, 2000 12-Year Basic Education schools and 21 laboratories will be also be built.
The government also plans to distribute 36,000 laptops under One Laptop per Child programme.
*Government of Rwanda