The government through Rwanda Development Board has commissioned a US$2m electrical fence that will cover the territorial boundaries of Akagera national park.
The 2.5 metre-electric fence that is powered by solar energy will be supported by a metallic mesh intersected by three horizontal electrified wires and galvanised posts secured at short distances to endure high pressure and wind.
John Gara, the Chief Executive Officer, RDB said that the construction is important because it will provide solution to the problem of wildlife animals that have been interfering with the activities of the population living near the park.
“We are very pleased to be here today to start the fencing of the Akagera National Park. This is the beginning of the end of the human-wildlife conflicts at the boundaries of the park,” he said in a ceremony held at the park’s southern entrance of Nyankona in Kayonza district on Tuesday.
“This will not only solve the problem of human-wildlife conflicts but it will also provide employment opportunities to the neighbouring population during the construction process and also thereafter in terms of maintaining the fence,” he added.
The fencing also aims at addressing different problems linked to the close proximity of the park with the human population. These include direct damages, loss of property, poaching and other illegal activities in the park.
In a bid to support the Akagera community conservation programme that links the park to the community, RDB donated a cheque worth Rwf 6M to 132 families of Kageyo cell, Mwili sector, Kayonza district. The money will also compensate property destroyed by the wildlife.
“We recognised that the benefits from the park that we generally receive are to be shared between not only the general public but also the community projects of the population surrounding the park,” Gara pointed out.
Executive Secretary of Mwili Sector, J.M.V Habyarimana noted that the community is optimistic that the money donated shall be used to buy seeds to cultivate crops in the destroyed farms.
Rwanda’s construction company, Entreprise de Construction (EME) in partnership with a South African construction company were contracted to put up the fence.
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