[SPONSORED] RURA: Regulating for safety, fairness and efficiency

In line with its policy of economic development and good governance, the Government of Rwanda established the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) to contribute to the achievement of its socioeconomic goals. PATRICK NYIRISHEMA, the RURA Director General, explains about the mandate and what the institution has been able to achieve in the past seven years. The New Times’ JOSEPH MUDINGU writes. RURA as a multi-sectoral regulator was established in 2002.The whole idea of the government deciding to put up a multi-sectoral regulator was to create an institution that can build capacity and synergies across different sectors that drive economic development. RURA regulates all the utilities that include ICT, Transport, and Energy sector, Water, Sanitation and Media Unlike many countries which have delegated regulatory authorities, Rwanda decided to establish one that is efficient and cuts across all utilities. From the establishment of RURA, a lot has happened from 2010. Operational Mandate As a regulator, RURA sits between the government which is the policy maker, the private investors who are the operators and the consumers. The regulators’ mandate is primarily to ensure that government policies have been put in place and that they are being implemented by the service providers. At the same time, we also make sure that the private investors in different sectors are profiting and are able to sustain their operations, getting return on investment. We also ensure that while in the private sector people are making profits, the services are affordable to the citizens. So as regulators we work between the policy makers, private investors and the consumers. In line with that mandate then, what we have done as RURA over the last seven years was to build the right capacity to be able for example to have economic regulation tools in place that help us set tariffs in various sectors like transport, electricity and water. RURA recently started to handle tariffs in petroleum, sanitation services and even in sectors that don’t have tariffs; we put mechanisms in place to make sure that services are affordable, reasonable and fair in ICT and Telecom sectors. Technical capacity In terms of building technical capacity, RURA has built technical capacity to be able to monitor quality of service in the telecommunication sector, to be able to manage spectrum and use of frequency in the country. We have also built capacity to be able to verify international traffic, transport sector by being able to inspect and track and to make sure that the policy objectives are being accomplished and that operators are fulfilling their obligations. ICT In the ICT sector, from 2010 to 2017 there has been an increase of 5.3 million from 3.1 million mobile subscriptions to 8.4 million today. On internet penetration, there has been an increase from 1.6% to 36%. The ICT sector received the highest Foreign Direct Investments in 2016. There has been an increase in subscriptions because internet is more affordable than ever before. In 2014, the Alliance for Internet Affordability ranked Rwanda as number one in Africa. ICT sector is an enabler that has allowed for connections and communication with suppliers, consumers and partners, saving time and resources. When the Northern Corridor Initiative Projects created a one area network, traffic grew four times from 2 million minute calls to 10 million minute calls. In-between the increment, transactions are growing and businesses are expanding, taxable incomes increasing and institutions that are IT intensive-based all benefiting. Transport In the transport sector, a new transport policy was put in place in 2013 and we have since done a lot of transformational changes in the transport sector. We have moved from a time when transporters in Kigali would wake up in the morning and decide where to operate depending on where they think they can get passengers or change direction half way through journey. Small mini-buses have been replaced by big buses. Today there is zoning in the whole city where operators are accountable with specific working hours from 5am to 11pm in the night. We have moved from having small mini-buses to big buses which of course not only increase our capacity for mass transit but also help reduce traffic congestion in the city. Some buses on routes between Kigali and the rest of the country have introduced electronic ticketing that has brought a lot of efficiency in the delivery of service in the intercity transport sector. Though we still have three years to 2020 and that we have ambitious targets to meet in various sectors, we can confidently say that a lot has been accomplished. Energy In the energy sector we have moved from a time when it was 100% government involvement in electric generation and distribution to a time now when we have a lot of independent power producers in the market who have been licensed to produce electricity and feed the grid. Rura is responsible for licensing independent energy producers. Sanitation There have also been significant strides in re-organization of sanitation services, put in place proper licensing frame work, tariff benchmarks and works for the local government to ensure that every single sector in Kigali has a solid waste collection company which wasn’t always the case. Every single commercial premise and households in Kigali today are accessible by a solid waste company. For a country that is striving for a clean, green environment, sanitation services are very crucial and for Rwanda there has been a lot of progress there. Media Rwanda was among the seven countries in Africa that were able to immigrate from analog to digital broadcasting in record time. At global level the target was June 2015 and Rwanda was able to do it one year earlier in July 2014 which is an accomplishment worth noting. Visionary leadership We have benefited as an institution from the visionary leadership of his Excellency President Paul Kagame where in all these sectors he has taken the leadership most especially in the ICT. The clear policy direction and the commitment have been given at a national level and from all the other efforts that have created a good environment for investment. The national effort to create a very business friendly environment is something that has helped RURA in accomplishing her mission. Partnerships As a regulator, RURA works with other regulators and institutions that have different mandates in the various sectors that we regulate. For example, the Standards Board puts a standard in place and based on that standard we put a regulation that is enforceable. The Standards Board, for example, puts the standards that a petrol station has to meet and RURA puts a regulation that requires all petrol station operators to meet those standards. Another example is the Central Bank which regulates financial services like mobile money yet it is a service offered by telecom companies that are licensed and regulated by RURA. So RURA has established an MoU with the Central Bank that defines various roles and responsibilities to make sure that there is no overlap. For the city of Kigali, we work with them in many things regarding all the services in the city. When the City, for example issues a construction permit, RURA follows it with an installation license. There is a joint inspection term in the transport sector comprising of RURA, City of Kigali and National Police which ensures that all the transport companies are complying with the laws and regulations and that quality services are being delivered. So as RURA, we coordinate our efforts with the city of Kigali across all the sectors we regulate like electricity, water, by making sure that all the residents in city of Kigali have access to these services. One last comment I can make is that we have not had any difficulty in coordinating with other institutions and we have only benefited with these institutions that have played different roles that were needed for private investors to succeed. N.B: This is a sponsored article

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[SPONSORED] RURA: Regulating for safety, fairness and efficiency