Minister for Trade and Industry Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze has promised to fast-track the utilization of land gifted to Rwanda by other countries after years of lying idle.

As the size of land gifted to Rwanda in other countries kept increasing over the years, there seemed to be no strategy of putting the land to use. As a result, some nationals of these countries took some of the land, which required court redress to reclaim it.

The government of Kenya gave Rwanda up to 12.8ha on the port of Mombasa in 1986, while Tanzania gave the country up to 17.5ha at Isaka in 1984.

While Djibouti gave two plots of land tataling to 60ha to Rwanda near the lucrative Autonomous Port of Djibouti and the Dubai World International Port in 2013, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

However, none of these pieces of land has been utilised to date as line institutions continued to dragging their feet due to bureaucracy.

Speaking to Rwanda Today, the new Minister pledged to work the partners like the Private Sector Federation (PSF) to follow up on utilising the land, starting with the one in Djibouti.

“Usually when government has land somewhere it becomes imperative to involve the private sector for its utilisation, as you know government doesn’t do business, there are ongoing discussions regarding the land in Djibouti”

“What I can assure you is that you will soon see the results of the collaboration we have in regards to utilising this land”

“The land has been secured and we have all the requirements to do business there” he said.

For the land in Djibouti, ministry has in the past said it is collaborating with Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and Private Sector Federation to come up with suitable investors.

That the three parties would conclude on who should be the key investors and identify key projects that are suitable for the land, but this ended up dragging on for long.

At one point it was indicated that PSF members were ready to invest and some international investors had also expressed interest in developing the land once the negotiations are complete.

The land has been earmarked for investments in logistics and manufacturing, a container freight station and off-dock facilities, handling of containers and bonded storage facilities.