Kigali 24 February 2021- Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Claver Gatete accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy Executive Officer of Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) visited Kigali Bulk Water Project, made of Kanzenze Water Treatment Plant and its Forwarding Infrastructure, to witness the start of operation for Kanzenze Water Treatment Plant.

The Kigali Bulk Water Supply Project is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) which involves extracting groundwater from the south bank of the Akagera River, build and operate a 40,000 m3/day treatment plant, then supply 30,000 m3/day to Kigali and 10,000 m3/day to Bugesera. This PPP is a 25-year Concession Agreement.

The Project comprises of a well field, a water treatment plant, constructed by Kigali water Limited, and associated forwarding infrastructure, provided by the Government of Rwanda that includes storage reservoirs and pipeline.

Kanzenze Water treatment Plant is in operation since 10^th February 2021. Currently, in order to balance the incoming water from the Plant to the existing network while optimizing the plant to its full production capacity, the plant is to produce water gradually, from 5,000m3/day to 40,000m3/day by the 1^st week of March 2021.

Minister Gatete has said that the project was designed to address water shortage issues in the City of Kigali and Bugesera District by replacing existing old water networks and constructing new ones, to reduce water scarcity.

“The different areas of the City of Kigali and Bugesera District that will benefit from the project include Kicukiro, Remera, Kimironko, Kabeza, Kanombe, Busanza, Nyarugunga, Kigali Special Economic Zone, Ndera, Nyamata, Kanzenze-Karumuna, among others”, he said.

Minister Gatete said that Kigali Bulk water project is part of the Government of Rwanda plans to increase access to clean water in the City of Kigali and Bugesera district.

“This project is part of a big project to rehabilitate, upgrade and extend water networks of 568km length in both City of Kigali and its peri-urban areas with a total cost of approximately US$ 63 Million” he noted.

In addition to this project, the Government of Rwanda, in collaboration with its partners, is implementing other projects across the country including all secondary cities, to increase water production capacity and upgrade water distribution networks.

Kigali Bulk Water Project will accelerate the Government plans towards achieving the target of universal access by 2024.