The Minister of Infrastructure, Vincent Karega, yesterday announced everything was in place to attract investors to partner with the government in financing the construction of Bugesera International Airport.

Karega told The New Times that around February next year, initial activities of mobilizing financial partners will start, and will jointly be championed by his ministry and Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

Based on the outcome, the Ministry of Infrastructure, together with the contractor and financiers, will then continue a detailed study and preparation of the Bill of Quantities (BoQ) for the next phase of construction.

"It will happen – if all preliminaries (including mobilizing finance and importing equipment) are closed by the end 2011, then from 2012, up to 2015, or 2016, we shall have the airport,” Karega said on Monday.

A better picture of the project’s progress is expected after February.

It is estimated that once complete, the new airport will handle 450 passengers per hour to serve a projected figure of 1 million passengers per year, in the first phase that runs up to 2025.

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