Electrogaz to commission new thermal plant

- Says no water crisis in Gisenyi KIGALI - The national water and power utility, Electrogaz, will at the end of the month commission a Thermal Plant worth Euro 19.2m that is expected to add another 20 Megawatts to the country’s electricity grid. According to John Mirenge, the Managing Director of Electrogaz, the plant located at Jabana is a state-of-the-art thermal generator, which uses cheaper, heavy fuel oil instead of Diesel. Mirenge said that the new thermal generator is environmentally friendly despite using heavy fuels known to emit a lot of smoke. The plant comprises of a furnace tube in which combustion of the fuel takes place to generate fumes which are re-combusted, reducing the proportion of nitrogen oxides present in said fumes, minimising the effect. He added that the new plant will be an addition to the many micro-hydro electricity projects currently being set up by the Government including those at Rukarara and Rusizi expected to be ready by June next year, as part of the 4-year countrywide electrification access programme. Mirenge assured the country that electricity tariffs will go down when all these projects are completed and when the company switches from using diesel to heavy fuel oils. The Electrogaz chief also said that the US $40m government funded water supply expansion project at Nyabarongo is well underway and is expected to produce 800.000 Cubic Metres of water daily. The project is aimed at increasing water supply in Kigali City to its population which now has an estimated one million residents. Mirenge said that the old system was meant to supply water to about 200.000 people and could not fully satisfy the water needs of the fast growing population of the city, prompting the government to sink money in the expansion project. He reiterated that currently 40.000 Cubic Metres are produced following the completion of water reservoirs at Nyarutarama, promising residents of Kigali that there will not be more water shortages and crises in Kigali into the near future. Meanwhile the Electrogaz MD denied that there is a water crisis in Gisenyi Town in the Western Province for the last two weeks as media reports had earlier indicated. He however admitted that on Wednesday last week, road works by STRABAG in Gisenyi interfered with the water system which indeed affected the water supply in the town and the surroundings, “but it was fixed the following day, not for 2 weeks as it had been reported.” Ends

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Electrogaz to commission new thermal plant