The Minister for Infrastructure has appealed to local governments to plan for and invest in infrastructure, mainly asphalt roads, saying it will stimulate the socio-economic development of the country.

Minister James Musoni, who pledged technical and any other support needed to achieve this, made the call on Saturday while officiating at the inauguration of a network of new asphalt roads in Nyanza District.

The roads stretching 5.8km were constructed at a cost of over Rwf3.7 billion. Construction works provided employment to over 800 Rwandans and the roads were built under a partnership between Nyanza District, Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) and the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA), with NPD Ltd as the contractor.

The roads were built over a period of two years during the financial year 2013/2014 to 2014/2015. The district’s investment was Rwf900 million.

"The leadership of the country encourages Rwandans to look for homegrown solutions, work hard, and collaboratively seek solutions to the problems we face,” Musoni said commending the decision by Nyanza District to prioritise road construction.

"Each district gets over Rwf10 billion each financial year. It would not be hard if each allocated at least Rwf1 billion to roads construction,” he said.

Musoni said the mentality that an asphalt road is only the work of central government was outdated as Nyanza had demonstrated, urging others to follow suite and only seek support from central government after they have made some progress.

The minister said each year, the infrastructure docket is allocated at least Rwf30 billion towards road construction. This, he said, could well be supplemented if districts gave ample allocation towards roads.

Musoni said infrastructure is a stimulant for development.

"Good infrastructure initiatives help enhance investment, which boosts people’s welfare and increases productivity. Nyanza town residents and other interested people should pick interest in investing in the city to take advantage of the new infrastructure in place,” he said.

The Nyanza District mayor, Abdallah Murenzi, said they opted for a tarmac road after realising that laterite and other methods were not durable and required frequent maintenance.

He said the new roads had added to the beauty of the town that was once the administrative capital of the country.

"This is a touristic city. Tourists like visiting clean places. So, these roads will facilitate movement. The roads will also keep buildings free from dust, which will reduce renovation expenses,” he said, adding that they want residents to live in planned villages to effectively benefit from the available infrastructure.

Felix Mungakuzwe, a motorcyclist in Nyanza City said, "Before the tarmac, the roads were in a very poor state.

They were almost impassable during the rainy season and too dusty during the dry season; we were obliged to have an extra jacket for our clients. We would also pay a lot of money to repair our motorcycles.”

Mayor Murenzi said from 2005, Nyanza City had got 15km of tarmac roads, including the 7km road which had been promised by President Paul Kagame. Of the 15km tarmac roads, 10km have streetlights installed to ease movement during the night.

During the event, the minister said construction of the Ngoma−Bugesera −Nyanza Road will start in 2017 to link the Eastern to the Southern provinces, adding that Nyanza Stadium will also be revamped.

He thanked NPD Ltd for the "quality work”.

At the ceremony, NPD donated five cows to needy residents in the district as part of their corporate social responsibility.

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