The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has embarked on tours intended to assess the state of major projects that the Auditor General’s report said had either stalled or poorly executed. Valens Muhakwa, the PAC Chairperson, told The New Times the exercise started on Monday and is due to be finalised on Wednesday. The inspectors are grouped in four teams; two went to Eastern Province, one in Northern Province and another Western Province. The excise will culminate with the inspection of the projects in the City of Kigali on Wednesday, October 6. The MPs’ inspection aims to compare the responses provided by the entities responsible for the implementation of these projects with the information contained in the Auditor General’s report. The entities were summoned by PAC during public hearings in September this year. “We decided to visit these projects in order to verify,” Muhakwa said. It is part of PAC’s responsibility to analyse the Auditor General’s report and forward its findings and resolutions to the Plenary Session of the Chamber of Deputies. In addition, PAC said it wasn’t convinced with the information provided by the entities under scrutiny and hence the need for field trips. Integrated irrigation project Among projects in focus, Muhakwa cited the Export Targeted Modern Irrigated Agricultural Project (ETI). Rwanda signed a $120 million loan from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) of India in October 2013 to implement this project. It entailed developing irrigation on at least 7,000 hectares in Mahama, Mpanga and Nyamugali Sectors in Kirehe District, establishing a food processing plant and 12 MW solar power plant in this area of the Eastern Province of the country. It was also meant to establish the Centre of Excellence in farm mechanisation, in Rubilizi, Kigali. The project was supposed to be complete by 2017. However, the Auditor-General indicated in his report that as of October last 2020, only 877 hectares or 12 per cent of the planned farmland had been put under irrigation. some of its components such as setting up a factory to process tomatoes – with a capacity of five tonnes an hour – into tomato paste and ketchup, and the 12 MW solar power plant, had not yet kicked off. For Centre, the Auditor General’s report said its establishment was abandoned as of October last year. Yet, Patrick Karangwa, the Director-General of Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), told PAC on September 13, that the construction of this centre was at 65 per cent complete. Nduba landfill The MPs will also visit the Nduba Landfill located in Gasabo District of Kigali tomorrow. This dumpsite has had management gaps that pushed Parliament to request the Auditor-General to carry out a further audit of it in March this year. According to the follow-up audit report on the management of solid and liquid waste in the City of Kigali, since the relocation of Nyanza landfill to Nduba landfill in 2012, the Government, through the City of Kigali and the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), has spent over Rwf7.6 billion on the management of Nduba Landfill. By the time of the follow-up audit in March 2021, the total area of Nduba landfill was 52.6 hectares, with the active landfill being 28.6 ha and the expansion area of 24 ha. This site was receiving 500 to 550 tons of solid waste daily, collected from the City of Kigali and around 150 to 200 m3 of faecal sludge per day, emptied from pits latrines, and septic tanks which are also disposed of in the ponds located in the area of the landfill, the report revealed. Infrastructures such as roads and bridges He indicated that other projects to consider include infrastructures such as bridges and feeder roads that were in poor conditions, yet they have an impact on the livelihoods of the citizens. He cited the 68.7 km Giticyinyoni-Gakenke feeder road which connects this Kigali suburb in Nyarugenge District and Gakenke District in Northern Province. This road, he said, was upgraded but lacked an effective drainage system, according to the Auditor General’s report, which makes it easily damaged. According to the Auditor General’s report, over Rwf10 billion was spent on its upgrade. “We consider their sustainability and facilitating the movement of people and goods because that is the purpose of such roads,” he said. IDP model villages Other aspects include the tour of the Integrated Development Program (IDP) model villages, including that of Gakoro and Gatovu in Musanze District. Muhakwa said that they were built but some have broken water tanks, yet citizens need them for rainwater harvesting, otherwise, the water can be destructive. Also, he said, the installed biogas digesters were not working, meaning residents continue to rely on firewood or charcoal for cooking.
