The head of Rwanda Energy Group (REG) branch in Nyaruguru District, Christophe Niyotwizera, said that in 2017/18 they had agreed to supply electricity to 1200 households but they ended up doing so for 3038.
In six months of the 2018/19 budget year, REG in Nyaruguru District has supplied electricity to 2179 households, but the target is 4200 households will receive electricity not later than June 2019.
Niyotwizera said electricity has helped people in Nyaruguru to leave the dark and create various lucrative jobs, such as building grinding mills, haircut salons, among others.
“They also utilized it in other lucrative projects such as establishing ‘udukiriro’, coffee and tea processing factories. Electricity also helps them in education especially in One Laptop per Child program. Electricity also enhances the level of service delivery.”
When IGIHE visited residents of different sectors of the district, including the ones who were supplied with electricity recently and those who got it earlier, they all said that it transformed their lives significantly.
Some of Ruramba Sector residents, who are being given electricity in these days, said they are happy to leave the dark as Marcela Iyakaremye of Nyarugano Cell said:
“We are so happy because we expect a lot from the electricity that has been given to us.
Moreover, having hair cut was a problem, but now we’re going to buy our own machines and do it on our own,” she said.
Mr. Alphonse Munyaneza, a pastor in the Methodist Church, located in Gabiro Cell, said that they had bought musical instruments but they remained unused for six months because they did not have electricity to run them.
“We have been with electricity for a week. That is we had been keeping the instruments because we lacked enough power to run them, but now when we pray we play music, and people are very happy,” he said.
He said that buying engines and fuel weekly was costly, so they preferred to keep them, waiting for electricity.
Jean-Claude Nsengimana has a house where he does business and charges telephones, said that those who want to charge their phones pay him Rwf100, while it used to cost, at least, Rwf300 before.
“We used to pay at least Rwf300 to have our phones charged because if you sent a child to charge a phone in Rwamiko or Ruramba, you had to pay Rwf1500. For a quick person, it took two hours to arrive there on foot. So children would ask you Rwf200 as wages and Rwf100 to charge it, but now it no longer happens,” he said.
He added that they are planning to buy cereal grinding mills and other lucrative projects, and that the electricity helps them to maintain security.
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According to Emmanuel Kanyesigye, Mata Tea Factory director in Mata Sector, “In fact, electricity helps us a great deal in processing tea because it is not possible for the factory to work without it.”
He said that for instance, in case of a blackout, the factory uses at least 40 liters of fuel in two hours, costing over Rwf40000.
“It was so expensive that without electricity, working was a matter of concern,” he said.
The factory has been also instrumental in assisting its employees and nearby residents because apart from offering them jobs to provide them with income and opportunities for children’s schooling and other schools, it also helps the vulnerable to activities aimed at improving their lives, such as being able to pay for health insurance.
Jean Hitimana, who has a project that makes wooden materials, said that before, they used equipment that does not require electricity as planes and saws which took longer.
“I later bought electrical machines but it is really fine operating them, work does not take long, allowing you to give customers what they need on time and do as much as possible,” he said.
For instance, it took less than three days for his workers to make a door costing Rwf15000, while his workers who didn’t use electricity made it in three days before. However, since they started using electricity, they do so within 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, Hitimana was able to give jobs to seven people.
REG branch in Nyaruguru announces that houses with electricity are estimated at more than 36.7%, and the target is that before 2024, each household will have electricity as is the government’s target across the country.
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