Rwamagana, 17th May, 2019- The Government of Rwanda has an objective of increasing access to electricity through coordinated efforts form government, development partners and private sector players. The role of this partnership is for energy sector to be able to provide sufficient, reliable and affordable energy for all Rwandans. The Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Gatete Claver together with H.E Benoît Ryelandt, Ambassador of Belgium to Rwanda, officiated the inauguration ceremony of completed Belgian Funded electrification projects located in the eastern province. Under this project, 22,387 households in 4 districts of the Eastern Province of Rwamagana, Kayonza Ngoma and Kirehe have been connected.

Some of the infrastructure developed under the Belgium support include the rehabilitation of the 30kV Kabarondo – Kayonza – Kiziguro MV line, construction of 30kV Medium Voltage line of 84km from Kigali to Kiyumba, construction of micro hydropower plants of Rukarara 2 (2.2MW), Keya (2.2MW), Nkora (0.3MW) and Cyimbiri (0.6MW).

Since 2014, the Belgian Government has been supporting the national Electricity Access Rollout Program (EARP) through the project “Improving Access to Reliable On-Grid Electricity Services for households and Priority Public Institutions in peri-urban and rural areas”. Through three signed Grant Agreements, the Belgian Government has provided a total of Euro 39,000,000 to improve access to reliable electricity.

About 5,446 more connections will be added by the project by December 2020. Additionally, about 280km of the single-phase network in the Eastern Province will be upgraded to three-phase network whereas the distribution network in Rubavu will be upgraded from 6.6kV to 30kV.

The Belgian Government has been supporting Rwanda’s energy sector, since the year 2000, through different grant agreements which have greatly contributed in increasing access to electricity, developing Rwanda’s transmission network, increasing the installed generation capacity as well as strengthening the institutional and human capacity to realize the priority goals of the energy sector.

Minister Gatete thanked the Belgian Government for its support.  “Such projects will help us achieve our economic development goals. We are very grateful for the support from the Belgian Government and other development partners that support Rwanda’s development agenda in many sectors. “He noted”. He expressed the commitment of Government of Rwanda to continue extending not only electricity but also other infrastructure projects including roads, water, health facilities etc.  He urged residents of Rwamagana district to efficiently benefit from those projects in order to transform their lives. In addition, the Minister called upon residents to protect the existing infrastructure to ensure their sustainability and avoid eventual incidents. 

Proud of long standing relationship between Belgium and Rwanda, H.E Benoît Ryelandt, Ambassador of Belgium to Rwanda, reaffirmed the commitment of his country to continue supporting the Government of Rwanda in order to achieve universal electricity access by 2024.He also noted that Belgium will support different economic infrastructure projects in secondary cities.