By William Katete.
The Regional Rusumo Falls Project - Council of Ministers (COM) signed the two project Agreements notably; the Shareholders Agreement and the Implementation Agreement in Bukoba, Tanzania on 17th September, 2013. The shareholders in this case are the governments of the Republic of Burundi, Republic of Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The Shareholders Agreement outlines key responsibilities of the Company, issues of capitalization, composition of the Board of Directors and their responsibilities, the terms and conditions on share transfer, representations and warranties, indemnification, what to do in the event that a shareholder defaults, how to share dividends, how to resolve disputes when they arise, among other things.
The Implementation Agreement on the other hand sets the terms of agreement of a member country, the project implementation arrangements, the expected support from member country (covenants of each government), issues of taxation, representation and warranties, how to deal with member country in the event of default, liabilities, resolution of disputes among other things.
The two documents were signed by the three member countries represented by Honorable Côme Manirakiza, Minister of Energy and Mines of the Republic of Burundi, Honorable, Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, Minister of Infrastructure of the Republic of Rwanda and Honorable, Prof. Sospeter M. Muhongo, Minister of Energy and Minerals of the United Republic of Tanzania. The signing ceremony was attended by the World Bank representative Mr. Paul Baringanire (Senior Energy Specialist) and the African Development Bank Senior Energy Officer, Ms. Stella Mandago.
In his remarks, honorable Sospeter Muhongo said that the signing of the two agreements marked the end of forty years that the three member countries have waited for the project to start. "today's forum has met to write history by moving from rhetoric to reality". On his part, Prof. Silas Lwakabamba noted that "energy was the backbone of economic and social development of most countries today" and that development cannot happen without access to electricity particularly in the great lakes region. The minister emphasized the importance of regional cooperation as it helps to share and benefit from scarce resources.
Honorable Côme Manirakiza, said that there was unprecedented energy deficit in the region which explains why the implement the Rusumo power project was of paramount importance to the three member countries. He said that the signing of the agreements expressed the commitments of the three countries to the project.
The World Bank Executive Board on 6th August, 2013 approved USD$340m for the construction of the 80MW power plant. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has also committed USD$88.24m towards the construction of the three transmission lines to Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. There is still however a gap as the total amount required for the transmission lines is USD$130m. Other development partners who have shown interest to finance the gap on the transmission lines include KfW, European Investment Bank (EIB), the Nigerian Trust Fund. The Netherlands Government on another hand expressed interest to support the Local Area Development Plan (LADP), and USAID to support capacity building.
The signing of the two agreements paves way for the implementation of project activities beginning with resettlement and compensation process envisaged to start early 2014 while construction of the power plant and the transmission lines are expected to start early 2015.
The author is a Communications Officer on Rusumo Project. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Twitter: @NELSAPRusumo, and @WilliamKatete