RDB upbeat on ICT infrastructure

The progress in the development of ICT infrastructures in the country is quite impressive, according to the CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), John Gara.He was addressing the press on the progress of RDB/IT projects in the country. “We are now investing much in ICT infrastructures such as the National Optic Fibre Backbone, the Kigali Metropolitan Network and the National Data Centre and all these are on the right track,” he said. He added that currently, they are looking forward to getting on the next stage of rolling out ICT services to public institutions and the private sector. “Some of the infrastructures like the national backbone are not yet complete, but we are targeting to complete it on time as our target is around December, said Gara.He added that the data centre and Kigali metropolitan network have been completed and a number of institutions are beginning to use the facilities. “It is a point we feel we are very proud of, “he said.On the National Data Centre, Charles Gahungu, the head of the centre, said that they have completed the physical construction of the centre. “Our next step is the construction of the monitoring and operation room which is expected to be done within four months, purchasing IT solutions, installation and commissioning of power transformers and final acceptance testing,” Gahungu said. Gahungu stressed that upon completion, the National Data Centre project will have cost approximately $16m. The data centre will provide hosting facilities for both hardware and software applications for various government institutions and public service organizations and later facilitate the interconnectivity for interested parties. About the fibre optic backbone, Antoine Sebera, the Director of infrastructure at RDB/IT, explained that civil works have been going on for the last five months and the total progress rate is 80 percent. “A network operation centre has been setup at Telecom House to monitor the management and the operation of the network platform,” he said. Ends