Government to introduce national transport and energy agencies; officials

BY GEORGE KAGAME

In a bid to enhance access to energy resources and improve the quality of public transport services in the country, the Ministry of Infrastructure is set to introduce a National Energy Development and a National Transport Development Agency in 2009 to coordinate both sectors and promote dialogue between the private and public sectors.

The initiatives are contained in the ministry's second phase of decentralization programmes (2008-2012)-a five work policy that stipulates the tasks and objectives it aims to achieve in the five years. Among other projects in the five year plan also includes continued efforts in training infrastructural planners in the country to the lowest local government authorities, and building a strong computerized database of the country’s infrastructure programmes such that monitoring by local government authorities so that implementation and evaluation is simplified.

In a telephone interview, Joseph Mvurirwenande the Acting director of planning in the Ministry of Infrastructure confirmed the plans and said; "we are working on it", he added that specialists are working on a framework and it is in advanced stages and that the plans will soon be released to the public. Mvurirwenande however refused to provide any further details concerning the projects. But another senior officer in the Ministry Alexis Karani said that these two agencies will first serve as examples before the ministry sets up other national regulatory agencies in the Information and communication technology, Habitat & Urbanisation, and Meteorology sectors that it oversees. Karani said this would make service delivery easier all over the country as district authorities will be dealing with independent agencies instead of the ministry as has been the case.

The new initiatives according to Mininfra officials is part of ongoing administrative reforms that began in 2006 and will see the ministry transfer some of its responsibilities to districts and remain with the task of designing policies. Prior to these new developments, Mininfra has been the sole body involved in planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the five sectors. The new reforms are also meant to decrease government’s monopoly and invite investors on the table so that by 2012 the mentioned sectors are in the hands of the private sector, where government officials hope competence in service provision will greatly improve.

Apart from charcoal, government is the sole supplier and regulator of energy resources in the country while the transport sector is largely in the hands of the private investors with meagre government involvement in managing the national public transport agency Onatracom.
The move to set up a national transport will according Albert Mugisha a regular commuter in Kigali encourage investors in the public sector like Atraco to adhere to basic standards in managing transport services like hygiene inside their vehicles. "Currently the setting up of standards in the sector is left to the greedy hands of private investors. Who only care for profit. The new reforms in the sector especially help raise the standards of transporting livestock for consumption from rural to urban areas."