The national bonded warehouse, Magerwa, has called upon the businessmen community to make full use of the cold room facility at Kigali International Airport that has been redundant for nearly seven months.

The 30 metric tonnes capacity facility was set-up to promote Rwanda’s horticulture exports.

Lambert Nyoni, the Director General of Magerwa warehouses said the campaign is ongoing and will not stop unless an impact is registered.

The low demand for the facility is attributable to the absence of the international market for Rwandan produce, little investments in agribusiness, high costs involved in air transport as well as limited awareness among the business community.

"As business operators we intend to continue with the campaign until we create a change,” Nyonyi said.

Nyoni is optimistic that the impact will be registered soon.
High are part of the reason attributed to the failure of the cold room to attract business.

Available information suggests that an exporters pays Rwf36 per Kilogram while government through the Ministry of Agriculture covers the remaining costs to encourage exports.

Nyoni  said  that Magerwa intends to meet the business community through the Private Sector Federation (PSF) and the Ministry of Agriculture to discuss the price issues and establish whether it has been the challenge.

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