The long-awaited Kigali Sewerage network and the treatment plant may soon be realised if the government secures a whopping $70m (Rwf45b), needed for the project, The New Times has learnt.Preliminary studies, facilitated by the Energy Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA), indicate that the project will commence next year.“With all the progress we have made in the field of sanitation, we still don’t have a centralised sewerage system in Kigali and this is a concern that we are working to resolve,” said the EWSA Deputy Director-General for water and sanitation, James Sano.A recent report from WaterAid International ranked Rwanda as the leading African country in a wider rollout of sanitation in Africa. Rwanda also was the first African country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation.Sano said, “We have already engaged the European Development Bank and have conducted preliminary studies that resulted to that amount as the estimated cost we need to build the network. This amount includes the construction of a treatment plant in Giti Ky’iinyoni on the outskirts of Kigali.”Main network According to the Kigali city master plan, all facilities in the city, including those approved by Kigali City Construction One-Stop Centre, will have their own sewerage system, but they will eventually have to be connected to the main network.Public concerns over the lack of a central sewerage system tend to rise as the city develops.Sano said efforts are underway although no completion time-frame has been set.A UK consultant has been hired to conduct the final studies and the findings will be considered as reference for the Bank to fund the construction.“We have given them terms of reference for the project. Soon we will know the final cost of the project. The initial phase will take about six months and the construction will start in a year,” Sano said.
