Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente(Middle) with southern province officials during today’s outreach
Rwanda’s Prime Minister Dr Edourd Ngirente is in the Southern Province to inspect several development projects, among them a 80MW Peat-to-power plant set to connect rural areas.
In May 2017, a foundation stone was laid on the site to kick start the construction of a $350 million peat energy plant in Gisagara district.
The plant had initially been said to be completed the following year (2018) and connect 50% more households onto national grid. However, the deadline was later extended to this year.
In Gisagara district where the plant is located, 22.2% of households are connected to the national grid, which is 7 % lower than the national average, 29 per cent.
Southern Province had earlier been ranked the “poorly” performing province. The Province came to the spotlight during 2018 performance contracts commonly known as “Imihigo” when it performed poorly compared to other Provinces.
Construction site of the 80 MW Gisagara peat to power plant
During the performance contracts assessment, the last 3 districts came from the southern province and the rest in the last half of 30 districts also came from the South.
President Paul Kagame who presided over Imihigo, blamed poor performance on ‘selfish’ leaders who abandon responsibilities for their personal interests.
The following year, the President visited the Province where he addressed local leaders and members of the Private sector.
Prime Minister Ngirente had earlier in September 2018 visited the Province where he assessed several projects before holding talks with local leaders on how to transform the welfare of citizens.
It remains to be known whether the Province has made progress, since last year’s “Imihigo” event was put on hold by the President.
Huye car park at the gate of the city
After postponement of Imihigo in August last year, Finance Minister Dr Uziel Ndagijimana told journalists that the President made the decision for leaders to do more and improve targets and include indicators related to improving housing and hygiene for citizens.
Huge on the agenda of Prime Minister’s two-day visit to Kamonyi and Gisagara districts include agriculture, health, industry and education projects.
Before visiting Southern Province, the Prime Minister was in Eastern Province in Kirehe District on January 10, where he toured an Early Childhood Development Center (ECD), $24 million Buffet Irrigation Scheme, MINAGRI Irrigation Scheme, Cyambwe Grouped settlement and Kirehe District Hospital.
