Dubai, 2 November 2017: The Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Infrastructure, Mr. Christian Rwakunda attended Meta Projects Conference 2017 which was held at Le Meridien Hotel & Conference Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

META Projects Conference brought together over 300 senior government officials from the project finance and investment community, financiers and investors to discuss the latest market trends and opportunities for projects across the Middle East, Turkey & Africa. It was a unique opportunity to hear from decision makers and obtain exclusive insights into the risks and returns involved in each project to better focus business strategy for the short, medium and long-term.

During the conference, Mr. Rwakunda made a presentation titled Uncovering Rwanda’s Infrastructure Potential: What does the Ministry’s project pipeline look like, and how will it be financed.

The Permanent Secretary highlighted six reasons to invest in Rwanda including the Sustainability of Economic Growth, the Efficient Governance, the Stable Credit Ratings, the Investor Friendly Climate and Easy Access to Markets.

He mentioned Rwanda has set an array of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to make investment climate more attractive for investors.

“New investment incentives are critical towards driving the growth of key priority sectors: exports, energy, ICT, transport and logistics, health, manufacturing, financial services, tourism and affordable housing” said Permanent Secretary Rwakunda.

He further pointed out achievements and mechanisms used by the Government of Rwanda towards increasing energy generation and access capacity. “We have Increased our generation capacity by more than 100% from 2010 to present; through Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements” said Rwakunda adding that Rwanda tripled electricity access through various innovative ways (Access rollout programs targeting 52% on grid and off-grid promotion targeting 48% of the national population. Currently at 41% and targeting 100% Universal access by 2024.

He added that Rwanda has adopted the use of Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and financing approach that led to the improvement of its system robustness, reliability and stability. The PPP Project implementation framework also led to the initiation of large scale projects in w which investors can direct their interest. These projects include Rusizi III  145 MW (hydro), Kivu Watt 100 MW (methane), Symbion 100 MW (methane), Giga Watt Global 8.5MW (sola), Hakan 80 MW (peat) among others.