Kigali, 11 July 2017

Prime Minister Murekezi told members of parliament both chambers that the number of household connected to electricity has tripled during the last 7 years.

He was yesterday addressing parliamentarians on energy sector performance, as provided by the article 133 of the constitution that on a quarterly basis, Prime Minister presents to parliament the implementation of government programs.

Prime Minister Murekezi pointed out that the number of connected families increased form 10.8 per cent in 2010 to 34.5 per cent today.

“Today, we have 208.36 megawatts of energy from 98.68MW of hydro power (47.4%), 11.88 megawatts from solar (5.7%), 30mw from lake Kivu methane gas (14.4%), 15mw from peat (7.2%) and 52.8mw from generators (25.3%). The government has increased energy from 97 megawatts in 2010 up to 2018.36 megawatts today.” Prime Minister Murekezi said.

Prime Minister pointed out that the government of Rwanda targets to increase up to 563 megawatts and supplying the power to 70% of the population.

He further urged the private sector to partner with the government of Rwanda by investing in energy sector as the later is extremely costly where for example getting 1 megawatt requires $4 million.

Speaking about the challenges, Prime Minister Murekezi said that as many people live in scattered settlements, this hinders the government to make quick and many connections.