The construction and installation of the National Data Centre (NDC), which will serve government and private institutions within Rwanda and the region to store and backup important information with a high level of security, will be completed before the end of this year.

The $5m (Rwf2.8bn) facility being built by a Swedish firm—Coromatic—is nearly ready, Patrick Nyirishema, Head of IT at the Rwanda Development Board told Business Times.

"The remaining work, which is on-going, includes electrical connection to the grid, setting up the operations and management centre, acquisition and installation of IT equipment, final acceptance testing and commissioning,” he said.  

The first of its kind in East Africa, the centre will rank as a high density hub with international security standards.

The construction of the NDC is part of the programme of the government of Rwanda to develop high tech services within Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Rwanda seeks to diversify the economy and cut its dependency on agriculture.

The project is co-financed by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

"This is a very special moment for IT in Rwanda and the whole region. This initiative is one of the many programmes the government has put in place as the country positions itself as the region’s ICT hub,” Nyirishema said.   

He also added that the government is working around the clock to increase the bandwidth to address connectivity problems.

The NDC will connect and allow secure access to information from government offices, health and education sectors as well as the socio-economic data of the country.

A commercial area will be provided for companies and NGO’s that would wish to back up their information.

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