EDITORIAL: With the new port, traders get an early Christmas present
Monday, October 21, 2019

Every day, something happens that proves that this country’s aim is still high and there is no indication that anything will lower it in the near future.

There is always a pleasant surprise around the corner, but most importantly the ease by which foreign investors succumb to Rwanda’s charm, and believe in it.

This year has seen the unveiling of massive projects and the latest jewel on Kigali’s crown was the opening yesterday of the Kigali Logistics Platform, a dry port located at the outskirts of the city, in Masaka.

And it is not just any dry port; it is a subsidiary of one of the biggest logistics firm, Dubai Ports World, and has the capacity to currently handle and estimated 50,000 containers annually, and that is just the beginning.

For an inland port, that is massive; that is about four per cent of the cargo handled by Mombasa Port which is on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Like all other previous investors, Dubai Ports World found a conducive investment environment, a system that works efficiently and a dedicated team of government technocrats who don’t sleep on the job.

In the words of the investor, they want to make Rwanda the gateway to the heart of Africa. The facility is a high-tech operation that offers real time cargo tracking for customers. On the day of the unveiling of the port, goods from several countries were being handled because they were attracted by the time-saving operations.

So, one can imagine the volume of traffic when the Continental Free Trade Area is up and running. As mentioned above; there are people in Rwanda who are not sleeping on the job.