KIGALI - Members of Kigali and Virunga Rotary Clubs are worried about the completion of the Kigali Public Library due to inadequate funds.

Rotarians need US$1.4m (approx. Frw778m) to pay Balkan, a construction company which asked for about $1.2million (about Frw668million) for the same work in 2002.

Kigali Rotary Club chairman Dr James Vuningoma disclosed on Saturday that Balkan who have since opted for other construction works in Sudan discarded the deal of building the library because the Rotarians could raise the amount to complete it within five years.

If complete, the library would accommodate over 500 people and become one of the biggest projects owned by rotary clubs in East Africa.

"The company was demanding too much from what we had; they needed a lot of money than we had agreed to give just because of the longer time they had spent on the construction work”, Vuningoma said.

He was speaking during a study tour of members of Muyenga and Entebbe Rotary Clubs from Uganda in the country.

He said that they had hoped to complete the library within a short time but as funds delayed, inflation has to push charges much higher than they could afford.

"Since we depend on mobilising fellow Rotarians, it was not easy for us to raise such huge sums of money within a short period of time as the company wanted it to be,” he said.

He said that they are now looking for other contractors as more people have promised to support the project.

Paul Birungi, a Rotarian from Virunga Club and Director of Distance Trainning Programme at Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), said that the original projection of $1.2 million could not finance the whole exercise.

He said that the government promised financial support for the library as a way of promoting reading culture among citizens adding that they are about to resume work.
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