China increases funding for TVET school

China has increased the budget for the construction of a Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) model school in Musanze to 80 million Chinese Yuan (approximately Rwf7.6 billion), up from the over 60 million Yuan announced previously. Shu Zhan, China’s Ambassador to Rwanda, announced this yesterday during a press briefing organised by the Chinese Embassy in Kigali. The increased budget will see the construction of a hotel that was originally not in the plan, to offer practical training to students. The Ambassador disclosed that the construction will commence later this year. The school to be constructed on a 4.8 hectare piece of land in Barizo Village will offer training in construction, agriculture and food processing, ICT and electronics. The school, which will accommodate over 1, 100 students, is slated for completion next year. Zhan further revealed that the Chinese-funded Masaka hospital would be completed and handed over to the government together with the required hospital materials. “This month, a group of Chinese engineers and designers are coming for the second phase of the construction of Masaka hospital. We want to build more dormitories for the Chinese and Rwandan doctors who are going to be working there,” he noted Upon completion, the ultra-modern health facility, whose first phase cost over 100 million Yuan (approximately over Rwf9.5 billion), will have 100 beds, provide outpatient and inpatient services, as well as an Anti-Malaria research centre. It will also have a polyclinic that will also boast of an ambulance department, a mortuary and an incinerator. In a related development, Zhan said that a high level delegation of 22 Chinese, headed by Li Yuanchao, a member of the Political Bureau and Secretariat of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will be in Rwanda for a three-day visit. “The CPC wants to exchange views and ideas in unity and reconciliation in Rwanda, which is still a challenge for us,” said Zhan. Yuanchao is among the top 20 leaders in China. Others in the delegation are farmers who will offer expertise in the agricultural sector, especially in irrigation, rice and mushrooms production. “We want to form a joint working group with the government on how to push forward cooperation in the agricultural sector, including post harvesting and to share knowhow in agricultural production,” he explained. Last year, China increased its Official Development Aid (ODA) by three fold to 200 million Yuan. In the first ten month, Rwanda’s exports to China stood at US$70 million compared to US$50 million of imports from the Asian country. “We will push Chinese investors to directly invest in Rwanda. We see that the socio-economic development in China will also be an opportunity for Rwandans to develop the economy,” he observed. bosco.asiimwe@newtimes.co.rw

National

China increases funding for TVET school