Rwanda on course to achieve energy targets, Tony Blair says

Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair has expressed optimism that Rwanda will achieve its ambitious energy targets, mainly because of its transparent, focused and determined government. Blair, who is the country for an official visit, made the remarks yesterday after touring the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the region. The 8.5-megawatt solar plant, located at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwamagana District, was launched last week. A convoy of vehicles carrying Tony Blair, senior government officials and other stakeholders arrive in a rural neighbourhood in Rwamagana where they toured a newly installed solar power plant yesterday With the solar plant added on the national grid, Rwanda now generates 156 megawatts of electricity. With several projects underway and new ones expected to commence this year, the target is to have 563 megawatts by the end of the Financial Year 2017/18, which will ensure that at least 70 per cent of the households countrywide are connected to electricity. “It’s a very ambitious goal but it’s possible. Acceleration of the time table is always about the government having the right focus, discipline and determination, the good thing about this government is that it’s absolutely focused on doing this,” Blair said. He added that Rwanda’s advantage is that it is a small country, which gives it the ability of doing the transmission and distribution in a better way. L-R Chaim Motzen, Giga Watt Global managing director (L), Tony Blair and infrastructure minister James Musoni tour around the solar power facility in Rwamagana yesterday. The impact of the solar plant The $23.7 million cutting-edge utility-scale plant, the first of its kind in the region and the third in Africa after the ones in South Africa and Mauritius, provides electricity for over 15,000 Rwandan households. The plant is one of the first major projects to benefit from the work of the Strategic Capacity Building Initiative, a pioneering partnership between the Government of Rwanda and Africa Governance Initiative (Agi), for which Blair is patron. Blair said Agi provides capacity for government in negotiating investment deals, including the one that saw a consortium of investors that set up the solar power plant. Former British premier Tony Blair takes a picture of the solar power plant, which his Africa Governance Initiative helped construct in Rwanda, eastern Rwanda. “It’s a great vote of confidence for the country and its future; it’s groundbreaking for how you do this type of solar projects. It’s of a size which is unusual as well and it will increase the capacity of electricity by around 6 per cent. At different levels this is an important and symbolic project,” Blair said. He added: “It’s a really important investment and a great international collaboration. This is a good example of what Rwanda can be.” Since 2008, Agi has been providing support to government through central institutions such as the Office of the President, the Prime Minister’s office, the National Capacity Building Secretariat and the Ministry of Finance, that of Agriculture, as well as of Infrastructure. The initiative has supported the systems and structures of effective government, so that the lives of millions of Rwandans who live in poverty can be improved. AGI patron Tony Blair addresses the media in Rwamagana yesterday, while panels of the newly commissioned 8.5MW solar power plant can be seen in the background. (All photos by Timothy Kisambira) With the support from Agi, Rwanda’s mode of governance has been lauded globally and, according to Blair, impact of Rwanda’s mode of governance is projected through its rate of development which is high. “The reason many people come to Rwanda to look at how the government functions is to try and learn from that process. The lessons of what works in government are really very clear but applying the lessons is what makes the difference,” he said. The solar power plant that Blair visited is situated on land owned by Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, an institution for vulnerable children orphaned before and after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The Village is leasing land to house the solar facility, the fees from which will help pay for a portion of the Village’s charitable expenses. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Rwanda on course to achieve energy targets, Tony Blair says