Residents of Nyaruguru District are full of anticipation for the new Ntaruka A Hydropower Dam to be set up in Runyombyi Cell, Busanze Sector, saying it will boost economic activity in the district.

Construction works on the plant, which will be built by Ngali Energy, a local firm, were launched on Monday, and according to Leonard Gasana, the Managing Director of the firm, the works will be completed in 2018.

Construction works will cost at least $11 million and upon completion, it will generate two megawatts to the national grid.

"This project will help stabilise the national grid in the parts of the Southern Province and increase generation capacity of the country as Rwanda continues to strive to reach the generation capacity of 563 megawatts by 2018.

Under EDPRS II, the government targets to connect 70 per cent of the population to electricity by 2018, from the current 24 per cent.

Gasana said Ngali Energy has other activities to construct other hydroelectric dams across the country, including Ruhondo which will generate 2.4 megawatts, Ngororero with 2.6 megawatts and Base One and Base Two (in the Northern Province) which will collectively produce 5.8 megawatts.

At the event, Nyaruguru District Mayor François Habitegeko said the new hydroelectric dam will increase access to electricity among the Nyaruguru residents, whose accessibility is still below national average.

Currently, he said, 20 per cent of the households in Nyaruguru have access to electricity, against the national average of 25 per cent.

He challenged people in the district to start planning on how best they will use the energy once the project is completed, to ensure it has an impact on the general economic outlook of the district.

He said residents should start saving for SMEs such as milling machines, welding workshops and barber shops.

"Currently, a person from this area who wants to build a decent house will have to move kilometres to Kibeho trading centre to buy say a metallic door,” he said, making case for a welding workshop which he added will also boost skills development and employment opportunities for the youth.

"Here we have youths who went through vocation school but are without employment. With energy in their midst, they can set up their own workshops.”

Augustin Mbarushimana, one of the residents of Busanze sector said the energy project will have a good impact on their lives.

"I was planning to set up a carpentry workshop in another sector which has electricity, but I will wait to set it up in my home area now that there is a chance that we will have electricity,” he said.

He added that it will also be relief for children who have struggled to revise at night.

Alexis Dushimimana, a youth representative for Runyombyi Cell is one of the youths n Busanze Sector said the project will benefit them.

Meanwhile, the construction works for a 2.5 kilometre road to access the hydropower dam were also launched in the district.

It is expected that the road will be completed within four months and will create about 3,500 casual jobs, whose workers of which 50 per cent will be women, according to Alexis Byamana, the legal representative of Helpage, the firm constructing the road.

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