The Minister of State in Charge of Transport Dr. Alexis Nzahabwanimana has expressed satisfaction on the ongoing construction works for the New Rusumo International Bridge and One Stop Border Post (OSBP) facilities at Rwanda-Tanzania border.

“The construction works are on good track and I thank all actors who contributed for the smooth implementation of the project,” the Minister said while visiting the site last week.

The New two-lane bridge with 80m of length and 10.5m of width will be completed by mid-November this year 2014, and will replace the old one-lane bridge constructed forty years ago.

The new bridge will have the capacity to support 180 tones and will increase the speed limit from the present five kilometers per hour to 30 km per hour.

The introduction of the One Stop Border Post will reduce time of crossing the border and make only one stop at the border post instead of the usually required two stops, one in each country. 

The elimination of the present traffic congestion through the introduction of an OSBP will significantly improve the efficiency of cargo transportation with the end result of reducing the transportation costs among other benefits.

The construction of the new Rusumo bridge will cope with expected increase of the traffic volume on this central corridor route which is an important logistics regional route starting from the port of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.