Rusumo, 10th January, 2014 - The Ministry of Infrastructure (Rwanda) and Ministry of Works (Tanzania) launched the completion of the New Rusumo International Bridge and the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) facilities.

The event was officiated by the Minister of Infrastructure, Honourable James Musoni in the presence of Dr. Akihiko Tanaka JICA President, Mr. John Mongella, the Commissioner of Akagera Region (Tanzania) and all other stakeholders.

Rusumo One Stop Border Post (OSBP) project is meant to shorten the time of clearing and immigration services and ease the movement of goods and people at the Rwanda-Tanzania Border.

The OSBP facilities consist an 80 meter long and 13.5 meters  bridge wide, verification storage, control shed, parking yard, office buildings, and guard house among others.

The New Rusumo International Bridge has the capacity to support 180 Tons and has replaced the old one that was built in 1972 that had the capacity to handle 35 Tons. . Given the present restrictions on the Axle Load and the use of only a single lane at a time, its replacement is required to cope with expected increase of the traffic volume in the coming years.

The New Bridge will also increase the speed limit from 5km to 30km per hour.  The project was constructed by the Japanese Contractor, DAIHO Corporation, under the supervision of a consortium of consultant companies comprising; CHODAI and NIPPON KOEI, also from Japan.

The Government of Japan, through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) financed the project to the tune of Rwf 22 Billion as financial support to the Republic of Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Honourable Musoni said that the OSBP will eliminate traffic congestion, improve efficiency in cargo transportation, cut costs and generally facilitate faster movement of goods.

We are grateful for the good cooperation between Japan and Rwanda. The two nations [Rwanda and Tanzania] will benefit a lot from the project. The One Stop Border ystem is important…it is capable of simultaneously handling departure and entry procedures at border points to eliminate the snag of economic corridors,” said Hon. Minister of infrastructure.

Rusumo Border Post is located on the Central Corridor of the leading economic corridors on the African Continent meant to ease intraregional trade and accelerate economic integration.

The Central Corridor is an important economic corridor in the geographical zone of the East African Community (EAC) along with the Northern Corridor which links Kenya and Uganda. The Central Corridor starts at Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, providing a crucial physical distribution to Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi. The corridor functions as an essential physical distribution pipeline for landlocked countries.