Kigali, 26^th May, 2017 - The global vision of the Infrastructure policy for sustainable socio-economic development is drawn from the principles of Vision 2020 and EDPRS-2 for Rwanda which focuses on sustainable economic growth and fast poverty reduction. Given the fact that infrastructure is recognized as a cross-cutting for development, the transport infrastructure planning is done in short to support the development of other sectors such as urbanization and specially development of secondary cities, private sector, trade facilitation and sustainable development and eco-friendly policies with public transport development.

The 185 km multi-nation­al road projects “Kivu Belt Roads” will facilitate intra-regional trade along the North-South Corridor; connecting Rwanda, DRC, Burundi and Tanzania as well as expanding Rwandan transport network while ensuring satisfactory condition service for network optimization marketing and supply in the area;

The Kivu Belt roads cover five districts surrounding Lake Kivu namely; Karongi, Rubavu, Nyamasheke, Rusizi and Rutsiro.

These roads once completed are expected to facilitate export promotion of coffee and tea as they connect parts of the country that are important for agriculture and will also create non-farming jobs for the local people;

The projects will further stimulate activities including maritime transport business and boost sports and tourism activities around the lake. They will also increase the potential for fishery business on Lake Tang­anyika and Lake Kivu thus contributing to the improvement of the living conditions of the people in the region;

The roads will further be expected to reduce transportation time and costs in the western prov­ince, as well as the rest of the country;

Other potential road projects which have contributed greatly towards the economic development of Rwanda include among others; the Kivu Belt road projects (Lots 3,4,&5), Kigali – Gatuna, Kitabi Crate Congo Nil Ntendezi, Access roads to Bushenge hospital, Cimerwa - Bugarama, as well as Rusumo and Kagitumba OSBPs;

From the 1,836km EDPRS-2 2016/17 target, 1,534.4km have already been constructed and represent 83.6% progress;

The following projects are ongoing and their completion will further contribute to the achievement of the remaining EDPRS target. These projects include: Kivu Belt Lot 6 (24km) & Lot 7 (48km); Base-Butaro-Kidaho (63km); Base-Rukomo (51.5km); and 54km in the City of Kigali;

Under the Agriculture promotion and access to wider markets, the feeder roads projects were initiated to raise food value and increase all season access to firms. With the partnership of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Development Donors, 1,836 km of feeder roads have been completed against 2,040 km of EDPRS-2 2016/17 target.