Gov’t spending Rwf4bn in rent

Government is spending over Rwf4 billion annually to rent offices for public institutions due to lack of enough office space, The New Times has established.A total of 31 public institutions, including four ministries, are currently operating in rental facilities. The four ministries rental are that of natural resources (MINIRENA), health (MINISANTE), refugees and disaster management (MIDIMAR) and the Ministry of Youth.Government spends about Rwf721 million annually on rent for the four ministries alone.Other public institutions operating in rented facilities include Gacaca Secretariat, Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA), Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA), Rwanda Correctional Services (RCS), National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) and Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA).Others include Single Project Implementation Unit of the Ministry of Health (SPIU/MoH), National Council for Persons with Disabilities (CNCPD), Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA), National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), Rwanda Civil Aviation, Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA), National Forest Authority and FARG.Surprisingly, however, the government is still spending over Rwf200 million annually to rent for the defunct ministry of information, which was dissolved last year, according to the “public rental for Government institutions’ sheet, seen by this newspaper.Among the institutions costing the government high, annually, according to the payment sheet, is SPIU/MoH (over Rwf527 million) national land centre (Rwf 240m), EWSA Remera branch (over Rwf211 million) and RHA (over Rwf174 million).“We have running contracts of 31 government institutions [as of end of February] equivalent to Rwf4, 052, 452, 644 every year,” Esther Mutamba, the Director General of RHA, who confirmed this, said.“But due to the reforms going on, this amount might change anytime, either by reducing or increasing,” she added.She explained that the government plans to acquire permanent offices for the four ministries, following the move to buy some of the facilities owned by Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB).“The four ministries are our priority now…to get them permanent offices,” she noted.She stated that the government will buy three of the RSSB buildings, contrary to four facilities as was announced last year.“We are only going to buy three buildings; former Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) headquarters in Kacyiru, the insurance plaza in Nyarugenge and the insurance plaza in Kicukiro [housing the Ministry of Health],” she stated.The former SSFR building in Kacyiru, currently houses the offices of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).The incomplete ten-storey Sopetrad building valued at Rwf 9.4 billion, was previously scheduled to be completed by the end last yearThe two buildings are part of the RSSB’s ongoing project to put up a complex in each of the 30 districts in the country. So far seven of them are complete or about to be completed.“We hired a consultant group to carry out property evaluation so that we know how much we have to pay. We are doing this in conjunction with RSSB.” “But even if the evaluation is not complete, institutions would occupy the buildings as negotiations are ongoing; but the problem is that the construction of some of these facilities is yet to be completed,” said Mutamba.