The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF Inkotanyi) has promised to set up a factory to manufacture glass used in the construction sector and bottles used in drink processing factories with an aim to reduce imports.

This is one of the pledges in its manifesto that would be implemented within a five-year period once its presidential candidate, the incumbent President Paul Kagame, is re-elected to the presidency in the July elections.

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The ruling party has been on a campaign trail – from June 22 through July 13 – meant to garner votes for its flag-bearer and Chairman, the incumbent President Paul Kagame’s re-election as Rwanda’s Head of State, and its parliamentary candidates to secure seats in the Chamber of Deputies for the 2024-2029 period.

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Currently, glass bottles are mainly used as a packaging material for beer, wine and liquor.

Celestin Munyampundu, the Managing Director of Southern Province Investment Corporation (SPIC), a firm that makes Ikigage – a sorghum-based alcoholic drink – told The New Times that lack of domestic glass bottle production was a common challenge for all alcoholic beverage companies.

He said that the establishment of such a factory in the country is much needed.

Glass bottles need replacement when they break, but sometimes one presses an order and a month elapses without getting them delivered to them because of delays around procurement, he said, adding that transport costs and taxes incurred on shipping them into the country are some of the factors for their expensiveness.

Munyampundu indicated that a small glass bottle costs about Rwf300 currently, while a big bottle costs Rwf500, he said, pointing out that they [some] are imported from Kenya, India, and China.

Because glass bottles are imported and paid in dollars from, he said, their prices keep increasing trend because of the appreciation of the dollar against the Rwandan franc. This, he observed, contributes to high operational cost for businesses, and higher prices to be incurred by consumers.

"This is a solution. I wish it gets built soon,” he said, observing that it should have enough capacity to meet the available market or demand in Rwanda.

According to a packaging strategy dated November 2022, by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, in the case of glass bottles, there was an observable steady increasing rate of importation because of the high demand for this type of packaging among beverage industries especially alcoholic industries that were obliged by the entities in charge of quality assurance to pack in glass or metal-based packaging materials on the grounds of standards requirements.

It showed that Rwanda imported glass bottles amounting to 18,501 tonnes in 2021.

The gap for both glass and metal packaging materials is 100 per cent since there is no domestic production of such type of packaging materials, which calls for investment promotion of the two, the strategy observed.

According to Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB), a feasibility study for glass manufacturing in Rwanda, which was carried out in 2021, confirmed that there was enough good quality silica sands and other raw materials for glass industry.

Meanwhile, RPF Inkotanyi also pledged to construct other new factories including a plant to make eco-friendly packaging materials called home compostable packaging materials; and a textile plant that will be producing fabrics and other materials used by garment factories.

It also targets to set up a hides processing factory (under the name Tannery Park) that will be supporting factories that will be making leather shoes and other products.

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Overall, RPF targets an annual industry sector growth of at least 13 per cent [from 2024] up to 2029.

The industry sector grew by 10 per cent and contributed 22 per cent to Rwanda’s gross domestic product (GDP) of more than Rwf16 trillion in 2023, according to GDP National Accounts 2023 by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda.