3 October, 2019: Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) Eng. Patricie Uwase and the President of Shema Power Lake Kivu Limited (SPLK ltd), Lord Irvine Laidlaw officiated the ground-breaking ceremony for a 56MW methane gas extraction project on the shores of Lake Kivu in Rubavu District, Western Province. Other high Government officials from different institutions attended the ceremony.

The project is a public–private partnership initiative between the Government of Rwanda and Shema Power Lake Kivu Limited (SPLK ltd) for the concession of 25 years with a financing of $200 million.

In her statement on behalf of Government of Rwanda, PS-MININFRA, Eng. Patricie Uwase said that the project comes at the right time when Rwanda is set to achieve the strategic objectives of the Social Transformation Pillar of Government of Rwanda’s National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) by 2024.

“This project is a synergy with other strategic projects that Rwanda has invested in and is expected to bring more energy to the national grid, and increasing our installed capacity which is currently standing at 224.5 MW to the projected 556 MW by 2024 given the time it takes for power plants to mature”, Eng. Uwase said.

One of the strategic objectives of the Social Transformation Pillar of the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) is to reduce the cost of doing business and facilitate trade by implementing key projects including scale up electricity generation and improve quality, affordability and reliability power.

Energy is one of the stimulators of the economic development of the country, Eng. Uwase noted, and the Government is continuously facilitating investments in the energy sector with a goal of achieving universal access by the year 2024. Additionally, the project will create more jobs and also provide technical skills to many Rwandans during project implementation and after completion. The jobs created will positively impact the livelihood of Rubavu District residents.

According to the investors and also project implementers, the project will preserve the environment and the wellbeing of the population adjacent to the site and beyond, by reducing emissions and ensuring proper operating procedures. Construction works commenced immediately considering that other preparatory steps including finalising and signing of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) were already concluded