Category: Business

In a quick survey carried out by IGIHE.com on the recently reduced transport fares, it has emerged that several commuter taxis have not fully adhered to the instructions of Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency (RURA).

Despite RURA ordered and announced revised transport tariffs, following the drop of fuel prices in the country, some conductors are still charging the initial tariffs or charging extra coins above the new transport tariffs announced by the Ministry recently.

“Tariffs the government put were not fair. They did not first consult us to see what can work for both sides,” One conductor who declined to give his name said.

On his way to Kicukiro, the conductor requested Rwf 150 from Remera to Kicukiro instead of Rwf 110 announced in the recent revised transport tariffs by RURA while others still request Rwf 120.

After the decrease of fuel per pump to Rwf 940 per litter by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) announced the reduction on costs of transport.

Fuel had increased to Rwf 1200, then reduced to Rwf 1000 and now Rwf 940 but transport costs had remained static.

At least Rwf 10 has been deducted on Kigali routes’ costs while beyond the city Rwf 100 has been removed as per January 19, as recommended by the institution.

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Following the public outcry over expired products in various supermarkets in and around the city,IGIHE.com carried out a quick survey to establish the status of the matter.

In Simba and Nakumatt Supermarkets the major city shopping centers, our team established that products on shelves were found to expire within 6,7,8 days.

Other products on shelves were expired but still on sale for over a month while on a high price.

On the other hand, Justine Ngarambe the Head of Simba supermarket said that they care much about the standard of their products and they take stock control every day.

She said, “we cannot sell old and used products though we cannot even prevent people from blackmailing us. We reduce a price for products remaining with one month in order to finish quickly and those remaining with one week are taken out of the shelves replaced with brand new ones.”

She added that once their customer finds a product expired, he has to return it for exchange not later than 5 days.

Ngarambe concluded saying that Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) visits their supermarket after every two months.

In a testimony from a client who bought ‘antibiotic’ medicine on 24th of a month from a RAMA pharmacy and after using them for some days he found that they had expired two months ago.

This person, who preferred anonymity, said that they assured him that the expiration date does not matter saying that medicine can be used 6 months more after the deadline.

The most striking problem is that most of the products which are said to be expired are beverages, food and medicine from pharmacies which are likely to harm people’s lives.

A statement from the diplomatic office of Rwanda to Italy has indicated that Ambassador Jacque Kabale has embarked on wooing Italian businessmen to come to Rwanda.

In accompaniment of the Italian Consul, Dr. Lucianno Longo met the captains of industries of Turin, at the Faculty of Economics of University of Torino – Scola di Administrazione Aziendale.

This meeting falls under the plan of the ambassador to network with the business community in Italy (Roma,Torino and Milano).

It has been estimated that more than 60 Heads and senior representatives of majors companies in Italy attended a conference.

After giving a detailed description of Rwanda policies and economic environment today, the Ambassador Kabale presented the business opportunities and the priority sectors of investments.

The Italian businessmen have also expressed their interest and their desire to discover and create a business connection with Rwanda.

A first delegation that includes Mr. Giancarlo PUDDU, CEO Market Nexus, leader in market analysis and strategic partner of the Italian SME sector are expected in Rwanda this year.

Following this meeting, the Vice-chancellor of the University, Mr. Valter CANTINO and the Ambassador Jacques Kabale met and envisioned collaboration between universities of both countries.

A proposed academic visit of 2012 Italian undergraduate students, in the field of agriculture,and a search for bursaries for Rwandan students were mentioned.

This stay ended in a visit of a factory of spare parts for vehicle (Torneria Serra Inc). This one uses a state-of-the-art technology and covers a considerable part of the Italian market.

The meetings and the discussions proceeded in a convivial, friendly and constructive atmosphere.

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Damascene Iyamuremye, the executive secretary of Busogo sector in Musanze District has been arrested and detained at Musanze police post for allegedly swindling Rwf 1 million.

Iyamuremye now facing trial for the abuse of office and related crimes is said to have connived with Tharciana Duterimbere the branch Manager of Umurenge SACCO-Busogo.

According to the source on the ground, both suspects are said to have withdrawn the money illegally meant cooperative in the area.

The money, which was reportedly embezzled, was 15 percent of the total interest paid by cooperatives.

Over Rwf 15 million had been cashed in to support cooperatives in Busogo Sector, by PADSEC (Project D’appui au Development Socio-Economic et Culturel dans la Province du Nord), and channelled through a local Umurenge SACCO account.

The scam was unearthed during an audit carried out by Rwanda Cooperatives Agency last week, a body mandated to oversee the operations of the cooperatives in the country.

Police spokesman, Supt. Theos Badege, confirmed the arrest and said that investigations were still ongoing.

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Rwanda has received a US $ 12m loan (est. Rwf 8bn) to help in the improvement of Agricultural activities aimed at increasing agricultural products.

The loan given by World Bank will be used to support various projects like land husbandry, water harvesting and hillside irrigation.

The minister of finance and economic planning John Rwangombwa signed on behalf of the Rwandan government, while Omowunmi Mimi Ladipo on behalf of the World Bank.

Rwanda’s minister of agriculture, Dr. Agnes Kalibata said that the projects aimed at increasing the productivity and commercialisation of hillside agriculture, enhancing food security and the livelihoods of the population.

“These are broad projects. They have been introduced in three districts of Karongi, Nyanza, and Gatsibo, but we have other projects to even help other districts that are facing low productivity due to hilly topography”. Kalibata said.

Omowunmi Ladipo said that Rwanda has had several partnership with World bank in promoting agriculture productivity, adding that this is the 17th financing agreement.

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A Study by a Swedish agency, Forum Syd suggests that Money taken illegally from the developing world is worth 10 times annual global aid budgets, according to a recent study by a Swedish agency, Forum Syd.

Tax evasions by multinational companies in Africa is so vast that tax analysts believe that if the money were paid, most of the continent would be “developed” by now.

But, lacking a sophisticated tax code, or the people qualified to enforce tax laws, many African countries continue to lose money that could solve most of its financial problems.

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The governor of Rwandas central bank (BNR) Gatete Claver revealed that Rwanda is on the 1st position in the region and the 3rd among 46 countries of the sub-Saharan region in regards to Economic freedom.

The rankings have been published by ‘Heritage Foundation’ in collaboration with ‘Wall Street Journal’ on 13th January 2012.

‘Heritage foundation’ in collaboration with ‘Wall Street Journal’, comparing with the last year 2011, shows that Rwanda improved with 2.2% and got 64.9%. Rwanda ranks 59th globally.

The report indicates that Rwanda attained this position for having made an effort in the fight against corruption, freedom of the currency use and facilitating the investors in their business.

The first 10 countries in the world according to the report, the 1st is Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Chilli, Maurice Island, Ireland and USA is the 10th.

The Rwanda Grain and Cereals Corporation (RGCC) a newly established and registered company launched by the Ministry of Trade and Commerce (MINICOM) aims at addressing challenges affect grain and cereals trading.

RGCC will establish a structured grain and cereals trading systems to better organize the national trade, practices, and promoting approaches to trade that help farmers, suppliers, traders, processors transform their business, the ministry recommends.

Minister François Kanimba told press that RGCC is an extremely important venture for Rwandans, for the shareholders and for the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

“We have achieved a very important step forward. Everything is going to move smoothly,” Kanimba said.

He added,“Priority is to make sure that farmers’ cooperatives have money from financial Institutions so that they can start to collect cereals and grain produced countrywide.”

Kanimba stressed that RGCC will support the on-going work in the Crop Intensification Program in coordination with MINAGRI focusing on socio-economic benefits in trading and marketing of grain and cereals productivity.

This will be done through capacity development of farmers, promotion of agri-business, and institutional improvement of the corporation to support structured trade in Rwanda.

RGCC is a private company limited by shares, whose initial capital funds are Government of Rwanda that will invest Rwf 2,845,000,000 and will have a controlling stake of 56.9% of the company and will shade the shares as private sector expresses interest to buy the shares; Cevitaland Benamor, Algerian Investors who will invest Rwf 2,000,000,000 worth 40% of the company’s stake.

Finally the local private investors will invest Rwf 155,000,000 worth 3.1% of the company’s stake.

Competitive advantages to be developed for RGCC include online and interactive regional agricultural market information systems and Geographical Information Systems.

It is expected that the RGCC will be operational by February 2012. In the meantime it`s board members plan to meet in few days to approve the six months action plan and budget.

Ministry of Agriculture’s irrigation project intended to spread across the country to increase agricultural produce.

It is also under the ministry’s efforts to save the population from unpredictable climate that has affected agricultural productivity across the region and the world at large.

Speaking at Nasho Irrigation site, Jean Claude Musabyimana MINAGRI’s Member Task Force for Irrigation and Mechanization said that expected results from irrigation is higher up to 80% as compared to traditional agriculture activities.

“The irrigation is being done across the country, the results is already promising and actually with the potential of the added technologies we will use, the results will be much higher than we anticipated,” Musabyimana.

The ministry previously introduced Crop Intensification Program as another way to get increased and quality drops in the country.

Over 1800 tons of maize is expected from Nasho irrigation site of Kirehe District in Eastern Province near the Tanzania boarder.

The above tons will come from crops grown on 600 hectare of land, 3 tons from 1 hectare and 3600 tones in three seasons per year.

“We are starting with next march. Residents would shift from this place searching for where to get food, because this place could be so dry in a prolonged drought,” Musabyimana said.

Over Rwf 4bn have been set aside to support the project in Kirehe District based irrigation site of Nasho.

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil.

It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and re-vegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall.

Additionally, irrigation also has a few other uses in crop production, which include protecting plants against frost, suppressing weed growing in grain fields and helping in preventing soil erosion.

Irrigation in Nasho area will benefit over 1200 households from four villages in the area including Mushongi, Kabuye, Misenyi under the Crop Intensification Program.

According to Musabyimana, the project has 20 years lifespan and there are already other two sites that are under construction in the area.

There are 23, 000 hectors benefiting in the irrigation project both in highland mountains and low land areas.

Government-funded Irrigation (GFI) called for Immediate Action Irrigation (IAI) for food self sufficiency and livelihood improvement.

Rwanda is seeks to continually improve and move forward in the agriculture sector.
The Immediate Action Irrigation -Government Funded Irrigation (IAI-GFI) aims to develop 5000ha of hillside by the year 2015.

Currently 1000ha of hillside irrigation is under development in the two districts of Nyagatare and Kirehe.

Muvumba valley hillside irrigation project is located in the Nyagatare District, Eastern Province and consist of two lots of 200ha each.

The development of this 400ha hillside project will lead to projected maize yields of over 10 MT/ha per season, bean yields of 6 MT/ha, tomato yields of 40MT/ha besides other crops like onions and pineapple.

Nasho valley hillside irrigation project is located in Kirehe District, Eastern Province and consist of three lots on average 200ha each.

The development of this 600ha irrigation project will also lead to increased productivity in crops such as onion, tomato, bean and maize, soya-bean and pineapple.

The development of the 1000ha hillside irrigation will cost 12 billion RWF with funds exclusively coming from the Government of Rwanda.

The infrastructure developed in Muvumba and Nasho Valleys have included five pumping stations, three reservoirs (2400m3), main pipeline (delivery) irrigation networks of 52,50km, distribution pipe-network of 48,75m and access roads of 45,0km within the command area.

The 1000ha of hillside pressurized irrigation schemes will be completed by March this year.

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