Nyaruguru district: Prime Minister commends private-ownership of a hydro power plant
Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, applauded private-ownership of Mazimeru hydro power plant in Muganza sector during his Thursday’s visit to Nyaruguru district, Southern Rwanda.
The 500 kilowatt-capacity Mazimeru hydro power plant was completely constructed by April, though activities had started back in 2009. The plant’s construction took up to Rwf 1.4 billion.
“I see this is well-doneâ€, Prime Minister Dr. Habumuremyi was overheard as telling members of his visiting delegation, referring to Mazimeru hydro power plant.
According to Juvénal Hakizimana, head of the administration council at Mazimeru hydro power plant, Energy Nyaruguru Ltd – the plant’s owner – hopes to have paid back all the loans contracted in the building of Mazimeru hydro power plant in a five years’ time.
Energy Nyaruguru Ltd, which enjoys a technical support from a Netherlands’ hydro programme, is made of three companies, namely CARERA, a German company whose shares amount to 49 per cent, a group of six people with a total of 1 per cent of the total shares and ADENYA (Association pour le Développement de Nyabimata or Association for the Development of Nyabimata) that owns 50 per cent.
In Thursday’s afternoon, Prime Minister Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi visited Nshili hydro power plant in Busanze sector in Nyaruguru district, still.
“Do you see how state-owned companies differ from privately-owned ones?â€, these were Prime Minister’s first words at Nshili hydro power plant, as he spoke to Protais Musoni, Rwanda’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs, who was among the visiting delegation.
The Prime Minister’s comment, this news website understands, was another way of criticizing the slow-paced activities at Nshili hydro power plant – which is state-run – that started in 2008, a year before construction activities started at Mazimeru hydro power plant, a privately-owned plant already completed as of April 2012.
Upon completion come August 31, Nshili hydro power plant is expected to produce 400 kilowatts.
“I care about the deadlineâ€, Prime Minister Dr. Habumuremyi told on-looking Emma Françoise Isumbingabo, Minister of State in charge of Energy and water.
“You will have problems. You will really have problemsâ€, warned Prime Minister Dr. Habumuremyi, in case the deadline is not met.
According to Emmanuel Hategekimana, Director of Energy, Water and Sanitation in Rwanda’s Ministry of Infrastructure, activities at Nshili hydro power plant resumed in 2008, after a Sri Lankan construction company was sacked on “incompetence†grounds.
Since March 16, the Nshili hydro power plant has been being constructed by MS-TECH, a Chinese company subcontracted by Fair Construction Company, on a US$ 6,839,140 cost. The sum adds to US$ 9,800,000 that the Sri Lankan company had already cost.
Nshili hydro power plant, Hategekimana noted, is among a half a dozen other hydro plants across the country that are expected to produce, upon their completion, a 7 megawatt-electricity.
Prime Minister Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi further stressed that it’s among the Rwandan government priorities to see the population accessing electricity.
As a way of making the environment more conducive and attracting for private investors, Minister of State in charge of Energy and Water, Emma Françoise Isumbingabo, said there will be pledges that the total electricity produced will be bought by the country’ Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWASA) for use and a tax discount on imported equipments, among others.
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