As the country’s industries continue to grow, government should move swiftly to facilitate them by solving issues related to low electricity supply and lack of raw materials needed to run them.
The recommendation was made by legislators in the Lower House on Tuesday after members of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Economy and Trade presented their report about their tour of the country to assess the state of industries.
During their field trip, which was conducted between late November and early December last year, the MPs toured all districts around the country, where they visited different types of industries.
They include agro-processing plants, animal feeds plants, pharmaceutical plants, pesticides factories, food processing plants, construction equipment plants, and those that make laboratory equipment.
They also visited Prime Economic Zone Limited, the managers of Kigali Special Economic Zone, to assess the challenges that they face.
The MPs noted that industries lack enough electricity, whereby some stop operations in the middle of activities when power is cut off while others find the price of electricity high.
There is also a disconnect between Rwandan raw materials’ producers and industries, a gap that the lawmakers want the Ministry of Local Government to close by sensitising citizens to grow crops and make materials that local industries need to use as well as link farmers’ cooperatives to industrialists.
MP Adolphe Bazatoha, the Chairperson of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Economy and Trade, said that the country’s industrialisation remains in its infant stage and should be facilitated if it is to grow.
“It would be a big problem if our industries can’t operate while they constitute hope for employment for many Rwandans. We need to task the institutions in charge of industries to solve their problems in order to pave way for further investments in the sector,” she said.
