Infrastructure development in the Kigali Free Trade Zone (KFTZ) will be complete by the end of this year, a move that will open doors for investors to buy plots and develop them.

Seven to 10 Kilometres of road network have already been set up and will be developed with stones and then tarmac. By November the project is expected to be completed.

Officials of Masoro Gasabo district, said that they will soon start talks with Electrogaz to provide them with water and electricity. The project is expected to cost between $10m and $15m.

"I am confident that by the end of December we will be having the basic infrastructure to allow investors start work,” Alex Ruzibukira  the chairman of KFTZ task force said.

" I am proud because before KFTZ wasn’t likely. But now the viability is no longer a challenge. The only challenge is when it will get operational,” he added.

Next month, a marketing campaign will kick off to create awareness on the importance of having a plot in the KFTZ and how they will benefit from tax free products. Prices are not yet fixed but the proposed ones will be taken to the cabinet for approval.

However, the management said that the prices will be low if Rwanda is to compete with other free trade zones in the region like Djibouti, Kenya and Tanzania.

The officials expressed their optimism with a boost from the recent World Bank Doing Business Report ranking where Rwanda was rated the world’s best reformer.

"Rwanda has to exploit the opportunity of this position because it will be there as reference for investors and it has put a plus to our project,” they hailed.

Already 35 local and regional companies have shown interest to obtain plots from different sectors.  Some of the sectors include petrol storage, car spare parts, selling of new and old cars, mining, and retail in various fast moving consumer goods.

The KFTZ taskforce was appointed in 2006 to speed up its implementation working with a group of five local companies to develop the area.

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