The Rwanda TVET Board (RTB) has started developing a curriculum for boat-building courses to respond to current challenges due to lack of professionals in the marine industry, according to officials.

According to Solange Uwamahoro, the Head of Department Training Management at Rwanda TVET Board (RTB), "the plan to start offering boat-building courses is in place, and the process of seeking resources to build the necessary infrastructure and develop the curriculum has begun.”

ALSO READ: Police bothered by risk posed by substandard boats on Lake Kivu

She told The New Times that Mubuga Technical Secondary School in Karongi District will offer these courses.

The development comes following the challenges highlighted by businesspeople in the marine industry, who have called for a shipbuilding school to address unprofessionalism in the sector.

Eng Alain Munyaburanga, the Managing Director of Afrinest Engineering, the only local shipbuilding company, stressed that lack of professionals is a challenge which the boat business is encountering.

"Boat building is another economic sector that is uncommon in Rwanda. We are being challenged by a lack of people who were trained in boating-related courses. You find welding personnel incapable of welding boats. We lack trained people in maritime businesses,” said Eng Munyaburanga.

For him, "lack of a shipbuilding school is really a challenge” that needs to be addressed, even though "we plan to construct it as per our master plan.”

Currently, the company employs engineers from Bangladesh, Egypt, and South Africa, with a few local workers who did mechanic, electrical, and welding courses.

Steven Sabiti, the Executive Secretary of the Institution of Engineers Rwanda, agrees that "boat building and maintenance is a skill that needs to be established in Rwanda.”

He said boat building could be done by people who studied transportation engineering, mechanical engineering, or marine engineering, but the institution has only mechanical and transportation engineers.

"Companies should partake in training engineers on boat building. We could identify a pool of professionals and then work with companies to ensure they are equipped with boat building skills,” he added.

ALSO: RPF promises to construct modern ports on Lake Kivu

The institution has over 3,000 engineering professionals, including engineers, engineering technologists, and engineering technicians.