The Government of Rwanda has embarked on the Nyabarongo II hydropower plant public project which will be established on River Nyabarongo in a bid to boost the country’s efforts to ensure universal access to electricity by 2024.
Located 27 kilometres from Kigali at the junction between the Southern and the Northern provinces, the groundbreaking for the construction was launched on Saturday, May 21.
The $214 million project is the first phase Nyabarongo II Multipurpose Development Project. It is designed to reduce flooding on marshland between Nyabarongo, Akagera and Nyabarongo rivers.
The project will also achieve a total of 134,5 megawatts, including 40 megawatts from Nyabarongo II hydropower plant, 40 Megawatts from Butamwa pump storage plant, 40 Megawatts from Juru pump storage plant in Bugesera, and 10.5 megawatts at Lake Sake Outlet hydropower plant in Ngoma District.
Felix Gakuba, Managing Director of Energy Development Corporation Limited(EDCL), says the project is crucial to helping the country meet its energy targets.
“We count on the project because it will boost power supply in the country, helping us reach our target of 2024 full coverage of electricity as we shall have scaled up our generation capacity,” he expressed.
According to Dancille Nyirarugero, Governor of Northern Province the project will improve the living standards of the host population upon completion.
“Poverty can rarely cohabitate with access to electricity, once regions are provided with enough power, that allows people to create more developmental projects, eases the cost of doing business and improves the standards of living of the population because of increased access to reliable and affordable power,” she explained.
Sinohydro, a Chinese construction company, will undertake the large-scale water conservation and hydropower development projects. It is the largest project currently supported in Rwanda by the Chinese government.
Wang Jiaxin (Charge d’Affaires at the Chinese Embassy in Rwanda) outlines some of the issues the project will address.
“Every year, floods harm infrastructure and the livelihood of the local people and due to some topographic features, some people do not have access to electricity,” he said.
“So, from this project, we want to turn the flood-stricken lands to arable lands, and increase the incidence of electricity, so that more people will get access to electricity and facilitate livelihoods of the local people,” he said.
The project covers 600 hectares of land in Rulindo and Gakenke districts. It will be completed in three phases in 56 months (2027).
bbyishimo@newtimesrwanda.com
Source: rnewtimes
