The African Development Fund (ADF) has approved $23.5m equivalent of Rfw 13.4 billion to support the rehabilitation and maintenance of Butare-Kitabi-Ntendezi Road.

The 115-km road network links Kigali, to the western and southern parts of the country, and serves as the main access road to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), notably the Bukavu Region, for the supply of food and manufactured products.

The project area covers West and South Provinces, in the districts of Huye, Nyaruguru, Nyamasheke, Nyamagabe and Rusizi district. The objective of the project is to open up the rural areas to increase sub-regional trade.

The grant agreement was approved through African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and by the institutions Executive Board on Wednesday, 25 March 2009, in Tunis, Tunisia.

According to a press statement issued recently by ADB Rwanda office, the project is in line with the objectives pursued by Rwanda’s poverty reduction strategy, as well as the Bank’s intervention strategy.

It is based on the first pillar of the Bank’s Country Strategy Paper (CSP), which lays emphasis on the improvement of economic infrastructure.

The project is estimated to cost at least $70m and the ADF grant. This represents 34.23 percent of the overall cost.

It will be co-financed by Rwanda’s Road Maintenance Fund (FER), the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (ABEDA), the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), the OPEC Fund for International Development as well as the Rwandan government.

The Bank is currently financing agricultural activities in the road project area, which will benefit from the improvement of the road and rural arteries thereby contributing to poverty reduction in the area.

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