The government of Rwanda has received a US $24m grant from Japan in bid to boost the country’s power capacity and stable electricity distribution.
The grant agreement signed between Takayuki Miyashita, the Ambassador of Japan to Rwanda, Hiroyuki Takada, the Chief Representative of JICA Rwanda Office, and Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, is expected to fund phase three of the Project for Improvement of Substations and Distribution Network.
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Rwanda’s power demand
Rwanda’s economy has been growing at a rate of 8%t annually in the recent years. This growth has seen the power demand increase by more than 10% annually. In the country’s capital, Kigali, the amount of power consumed accounts to about 64% of the country’ total power consumption.
The project is expected to improve and expand the Gasogi substation and incidental transmission and distribution facilities located in Kigali, to stabilize the Kigali power supply with higher efficiency. According to Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana it will strengthen the capacity to avoid the risk of a large-scale power outage which will in turn bring a positive impact in economy, education, health and well being of the population.
The Energy Development Co Limited (EDCL), the implementation agency will target areas in Kigali City including some 110kV transmission lines between the existing transmission line and a planned new Gasogi substation.
