Motorcycles will start being inspected for roadworthiness and emissions in May-June 2025 as part of the country’s move to scale up efforts to ensure air quality compliance and address emissions, according to Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA).

The Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Juliet Kabera, made the disclosure on November 1, as she spoke to journalists about Rwanda’s call for action to step up the fight against air pollution and achieve a healthier environment for all Rwandan residents through a greater collaboration with different actors.

As a country that is committed to promoting tourism, it is also good to ensure air quality for the health of tourists, she observed.

She said the plan to test emissions in motorbikes was announced early to ensure that by the time the decision will start being implemented, people will have been informed about it.

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Currently, vehicle inspection is performed on motor-vehicles (cars) to ensure that they meet safety requirements and standards depending on their use. This includes emission testing for a vehicle to be certified as roadworthy if it passes the test, or to be prohibited to operate in case it fails.

Commercial motor-vehicles must be inspected every six months, while it is once a year for personal use motor-vehicles, Kabera said.

"Motorcycle taxi operators are going to start having inspections [of their vehicles],” which has not been the case. They will also have emission tests, starting from Kigali,” she said.

Motorcycles [in general] – that run on fuel such as petrol – were producing emissions at a relatively high level because they were not concerned with the inspection, Kabera pointed out.

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A study published by REMA in December 2017 showed that vehicle [including cars and motorcycles] emissions were the biggest contributor to poor air quality in Rwanda's cities, according to the environmental regulatory body.

Kabera said that there are many contributors to air pollution, some of which are local, and those that are external factors as the atmosphere has no limits.

Curbing emissions matters

Kabera stressed the need to curb emissions from vehicles, and other sources, through compliance with the regulations in favour of human health and environmental conservation.

"If I own a car, it should not be a burden to a child who walks to school by exposing them to inhaling harmful emissions from it,” she said, observing that polluted air negatively affects children’s intelligence quotient (IQ).

Overall, she said that polluted air is associated with conditions including respiratory diseases among people.

"[As Rwanda], we are not at an alarming level in terms of air pollution, but we do not want to reach that level either,” she said, observing that is why Rwanda’s leadership put in efforts to encourage people to deal with air pollution and take necessary measures to that end.

Regarding measures put in place to that end, she cited incentives (tax waiver) to help people buy electric vehicles, among other initiatives meant to green the country's transport and economy at large.

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Rwanda, Kabera said, is committed to preventing all possible causes for air pollution, including open burning of waste which impairs air quality and exposes people including children to inhale harmful emissions.

Some factories including those processing tea still use firewood to run their operations, which releases emissions but also poses a threat to forest cover and the greening of the country by cutting trees.

As a solution, she indicated, factories should invest in the right energy such as electricity as business-oriented entities.

For factories that are inherently bound to release emissions – because of the products they manufacture such as cement – she said that they should be fitted with relevant filters to ensure that they get rid of pollutants by the time they are discharged into the air.