Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente on Thursday, March 2, officially presided over a ceremony to extend, by two years, the Manufacture and Build to Recover Programme, a policy response unveiled in 2020 to fast-track private sector investments as well as boost economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects.

ALSO READ: Government extends manufacturing recovery programme by two years

Three priority sectors including construction, manufacturing and agro-processing were identified as the sole beneficiaries of the program, due to what the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) attributes to the potential in creating the much needed jobs but also support the quick recovery efforts.

As it stands, 101 projects were approved to benefit from the program, including 27 in agro-processing, 41 projects in manufacturing and 33 projects in construction.

ALSO READ: Manufacturing incentives attract $1.7billion in investments

Despite having only 26 of them fully operational, Clare Akamanzi, the Chief Executive at RDB, said that 44 projects are under construction, while another 31 are yet to start "and whom we are actually targeting as we extend this program.”

Akamanzi pointed out that out of the 101 projects, 52 companies are foreign owned while 49 companies are locally owned.

ALSO READ: PM woos investors as gov’t extends incentives for manufacturers

And with the government extending the program, she projected an increase in exports, reduced imports while at the same time availing products like cooking oil, hygiene products, medical syringes, construction materials, beverages, furniture among others.

"This means that for another two years, members of the private sector can apply to benefit from this program for two more years,” she added.

Who is eligible?

On the eligibility criteria, Akamanzi explained that for general construction, such as a hotel, offices, estates, an investor needs to invest a minimum $10 million to be eligible.

In return, she added, value added tax is exempted on imported construction materials not accessible in the East African Community (EAC), custom duty is exempted for material also not available in the region as well as exemption for VAT in locally sourced construction materials.

Akamanzi said an investor in manufacturing will be required to invest a minimum $1 million, despite being given similar incentives as those in construction.

This, she said, applies if it is a new green field investment. However, an existing investment will be required to increase investment by 20 percent. Investors in agro-processing are required to invest a minimum $100,000 to be eligible for the program, which the government says it intentionally minimized to attract more investors.

Under the second phase, the country expects to double the investments made in the first phase and earn about $2.5 billion (about Rwf2.6 trillion) in the next two years.