KIGALI - The government plans to open a $2.5m (approx Frw1.3billion) stone quarry plant in this year, Lands and Environment minister Christophe Bazivamo, has disclosed.

Bazivamo made the disclosure yesterday during a meeting with stone quarry experts and dealers at Hotel Novotel, Umubano.

He said the plant will be built near Nkuri boulder in Nyabihu District, Western Province.

The plant is expected to produce one hundred and twenty thousand metre squared of polished stones annually.

The polished stones would replace the imported expensive building tiles. Three hundred kilowatts of electric power would be needed to run the plant’s thirty-six multifarious machines to be use in the whole process, according to experts.

Bazivamo said that the plant’s daily power consumption rate would vary depending on the intervals it spends while functioning. He said water is also needed for its day-to-day operations. Many participants wondered whether the plant’s activities don’t pose any threats to the environment.

But the State Minister in charge of Water and Mines, Prof. Munyanganizi Bikoro assured them: "You should not worry about that.”

He is optimistic that the plant will not pose any threat to the environment since its planned function is in line with the national laws governing the mining activities.
Bazivamo told the participants that the site near Nkuri boulder will be the source of stones to use. It was selected by the Chinese experts under the patronage of their Rwandan counterparts.

"Their feasibility study over there unveiled the presence of granite type of rock which is good for production of stonework materials,” the minister explained.

The team also identified various areas countrywide with different types of rocks but their development is expected after the successful exploitation of the first site at Nkuri.
The Chinese team was led by Ding G You, the Director General of UnionStone Construction Material Company based in China.
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