Following the approval of the government’s second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II) in March this year, a detailed review of the institutional arrangements in the Water and Energy sectors was carried out. The review, supported by leading international experts, concluded that the change is required in order to meet the twin challenges of investing in new infrastructure and operating larger and more complex networks. The Country requires around $3bn of investment to increase access to water from 74% to 100% and access to electricity from 17% of households to 70%. This significant increase in the scale of the Energy and Water systems is one of the main reasons for the separation of the sectors into two companies.

Each of the new companies will have a unit dedicated to planning and the delivery of new investment. Planning will be essential over the coming years to attract the required investment. This is particularly true in energy generation where resources need to be dedicated to proving energy sources such as geothermal, methane and hydro. Indeed, Rwanda has invested significantly in demonstrating its natural resources over recent years in order to attract the private sector, including detailed feasibility studies on a number of potential hydro sites and through the on-going drilling in the North West of the Country to investigate its geothermal potential. Large investments in the water extraction or power generation have long lead times to develop the project proposals and to obtain the investment required. A long term investment plan will be developed for each sector identifying the investments required over the next 20-years to allow sufficient time for these activities.

As well as helping to secure the future investment required through improved planning, the reforms are expected to deliver significant improvements in both efficiencies and the quality of service. A key part of the establishment of the new companies will be the development of IT systems and processes to help them operate efficiently. These IT systems will also provide information to the management of the companies and the government on operational and financial performance to allow management to make better decisions and to understand how effectively the companies are being run. The transition in responsibility from a government agency to companies is a significant development as it will place greater power in the hands of the management of the new companies, enabling them to make rapid decisions. Under the new corporatized arrangements, the management will assume total responsibility for all operational decisions. The new organisations will be government owned and answerable to a Board appointed by the Government.

Within the new companies the organisational structures are likely to look different from the existing ones within EWSA today. This will present excellent opportunities for Rwandans looking to develop a career in these fast paced and challenging sectors.