The meeting was postponed for the second time following the spread of Covid that has led to stringent containment measures
Local businesses are counting losses following the second postponement of the Commonwealth and Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm)which was scheduled to take place next month.
The meeting was postponed due to the prolonged impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, businesses say there are counting losses as many had purchased raw materials and started processing orders ahead of time.
For instance, Poultry East Africa Ltd, a farm located in Bugesera district, was gearing up to supply chicken to hotels and restaurants during the meeting.
Now that the meeting has been cancelled, the farm was forced to destroy chicks worth at least Rwf100 million to minimise losses.
"We were at 200 percent capacity ready for the CHOGM 2021, when the lockdown came, we did not have enough space to store all these products, so we had to destroy around Rwf100 million worth of products," Neal Roper, Poultry East Africa general manager told Rwanda Today.
With the postponement of the meeting, around 36, 000 eggs, 26, 000 day-old chicks in hatchery were destroyed.
“I went around my farm and destroyed everything below 14 days, because I knew, I wouldn’t be able to process it or to store it, and there was no market to sell at,” Roper added, saying the company is currently producing between 60, 000 and 70, 000 day-old chicks both broiler and layers per week to sell to the local market.
According to Roper, the most expensive cost in the investment is the feeds, which approximately takes 70 percent of the total cost; but for him the only thing he complains about is the quality of the feed which is sourced locally.
Businesses in the hospitality industry also invested millions in upgrading their facilities ahead of the meeting, saying the postponement of the meeting will lead to losses as demand for their services remains low.
“Having reviewed all available evidence and risk assessments including with the World Health Organisation and their risk the assessment tool, and after close consultation between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Member States, the decision has been made to postpone the Chogm in Kigali for a second time,” the Chogm secretariat and the government announced in a joint statement.