Infrastructure, agriculture and industry will take the biggest chunk of the Rwf10.5 billion plan to develop Rwamagana District.

Nehemie Uwimana, the district mayor, announced this after an extraordinary meeting of all stakeholders in the district on Tuesday.

The meeting attracted, among others, lawmakers and local leaders in the district.

"Economic development will be reliant upon the support and strategic vision our plans provide,” the mayor said.The mayor plans to concentrate on short-term projects, particularly those that are people-centred.

The district was ranked second last in the recent performance evaluation at the national level.

Uwimana said stakeholders will be tasked to complete their projects in a given timeframe to avoid a repeat of last fiscal year’s scenario when most of the projects were not completed.

"One of the reasons we performed poorly in the last performance contracts was failure to complete a number of projects. If we had completed the mega projects we had, we would have featured among the top performing districts,” he said.

"We have paper and plastic industries in the pipeline and several kilometers of tarmac roads across the district will be completed. Thousands of hectares of cereal crops are flourishing and cattle keeping is booming. So, we expect to perform well in the next performance evaluation.”

Germaine Kamayirese, the Minister of State in charge of Energy and Water, who presided over the discussions, said she was optimistic the district will do well.

The minister, with a special assignment to oversee Rwamagana development programmes, said she would increase her presence to help realise the mission.

"I will be closer than ever. It is imperative that we work hard for the good of the community,” she said.

Meanwhile, residents welcomed the renewed efforts to develop the district, noting that it was high time authorities changed their ways of working.

"I think the new approach the mayor is taking is appropriate. It is even more promising when he pledges to work closely with the people. I am convinced the district has been lagging behind because of the local leaders’ indifference to the needs of the people,” said Eugine Kayiranga, a resident.