The Kigali Free Trade Zone (KFTZ) will be launched in April, this year, paving the way for investors to start constructing factories and warehouses as the country positions itself to become a trade logistics hub.

Alex Ruzibukira, the Chairman of the taskforce that is overseeing the implementation of the project, told Business Times, last week, that with the necessary infrastructure now in place, 90 percent of the work on the 250 hectares zone has been completed.

He said that the Zone is ready to receive investors. "Currently there is a huge project being carried out between the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Agriculture called ‘seed plant and storage for agricultural products,’” said Ruzibukira.

 The facility seeks to create a central distribution point in Rwanda that can serve smaller local markets in the region.

The official said that the Zone will facilitate the development of larger wholesale traders, which, in turn, should lower the cost of importing and should lead to an expansion in trade.

"The country will be able to pass on skills to our neighboring countries, increase the incoming of people from neighboring countries to purchase goods in the Zone,” he added.

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