PARLIAMENT - Parliament on Monday approved a $23.5m grant from the African Development Bank’s for the rehabilitation and maintenance of Butare-Kitabi-Ntendezi road project.

The proposal had initially been approved by the institution’s Executive Board in Dakar, Senegal and later endorsed by the cabinet meeting last month.

"The objective of the project is to open up the rural areas to increase sub-regional trade. Specifically, The Butare-Kitabi-Ntendezi road project aims at facilitating the movement of goods and people as well as improving the living conditions of communities in the area,” reads a parliamentary communiqué.

The 115-km road network links the capital, Kigali, to the western and southern parts of the country, and serves as the main access road to the eastern part of the DR Congo notably the Bukavu Region.

The area serves as a food basket for the country, accounting for approximately 40 percent of national tuber and 100 percent of barley production.

It produces cash crops such as tea and coffee that account for 40 percent and 35 percent of national production, respectively.

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