Heavy rains that have poured in the country for the past two years caused damages worth over Rwf120 billion to bridges, roads among other public infrastructures, the Minister of Infrastructure, Claver Gatete has said.

He was appearing before the Chamber of Deputies’ plenary sitting on Tuesday June 23 to provide explanations for infrastructure challenges that lawmakers identified during their countrywide assessment tours.

Gatete said that concerned institutions including the Ministry of Infrastructure and that the Ministry of Emergency Management conducted an assessment during the planning of the 2020/2021 budget.

"We carried out an assessment and realised that 48 bridges at national level and 130 bridges at district level were destroyed by rains. When [national] roads, electricity and water infrastructures that were damaged by the rains are factored in, we found that we needed Rwf64 billion to rehabilitate them,” the Minister said.

"And, roads that link districts and sectors which were damaged by the rains require more than Rwf60 billion to repair. That brings the total infrastructure costs resulting from the rains to more than Rwf120 billion,” he said.

MP Barthélemy Karinijabo wanted to know what is planned to be done to make the country’s major roads more resilient to disasters, citing Cyakabiri-Ndusu road connecting the Southern, Western and Northern provinces which was recently damaged by torrential rains.

"There are national roads that were damaged by recent heavy rains, and districts look to the Ministry of Infrastructure for support,” he said.

Minister Gatete said that the Government wants to prioritise rehabilitation of such infrastructure, but pointed out that available resources are less than the required expenditures.

 "If we fund the activities to rehabilitate all the damaged infrastructures, we might end up having to suspend other infrastructure projects because the cost is high,” Gatete said indicating that there are also residents who need support as their houses were destroyed.

"The Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) was allocated Rwf163 billion in the 2020/2021 fiscal budget that could be used to finance ongoing projects, new roads, and repairing damaged infrastructure, is not enough to cater for such needs,” he said.  

MP Christine Murebwayire said that there is need to make thorough study before building bridges.

"There is a need for a study on land before laying concrete to erect bridges because when they are destroyed, the Government incurs losses,” he said.

Meanwhile, members of parliament expressed concern that feeder roads being built through VUP (Vision Umurenge Programme) do not have adequate roadside drainage systems, which exposes them to torrential rains.

They requested that measures be taken to make durable roads that help the most vulnerable citizens get wages from the work they do, but also benefit the community.