Rwanda - Muvumba Multipurpose Water Resources Development Program

General

The proposed operation supports a standalone Multipurpose Water Resources Development program and is aligned to the Government of the Republic of Rwanda (GoR)’s development agenda and envisaged economic transformation as outlined in Vision 2050 and the NST-1. The first set of activities under the program are the construction of the dam including installation of the hydropower plant and preparatory studies for downstream investments for irrigation and livestock use. The proposed dam is located on the river Muvumba in Rwanda near the Nyagatare Town. The River arises in Uganda joins the Kagitumba River downstream, which in turn flows into the Kagera River. The program will improve natural resources and environmental management and empower people in the district through land management and capacity development on alternative livelihood. It is expected to be implemented over 70 months starting in January 2021. The Cost of the first set of activities under the program to be financed by the Bank and counterpart contribution from the GoR is EUR 124.190 million net of tax and duties.

Objectives

The objective of the program is to improve water, energy, food and nutrition security by harnessing water resources for irrigation, domestic, livestock use and hydropower generation, while ensuring sustainability of the resources and building resilience against climate change and variability.

Target Groups

The initial set of activities under the program only relates to dam construction with the embedded hydropower plant (installed capacity of 740 kW and annual power generation estimated at 5,719 MWh), for which there are no direct beneficiaries. The initial stage of the program also involves the detailed design of the irrigation and livestock water use project, while the government is in parallel undertaking detailed designs for the water and sanitation project. Both these uses will be served by the storage dam. When the subsequent investments are implemented, the direct beneficiaries include the population of Nyagatare (estimated at 560,000 people).Benefits will be derived from: (i) irrigation development for a command area estimated at 7,380ha covering Tabagwe, Gatunda, Karama, Rukomo, Nyagatare, Rwempasha, Musheri and Rwimiyaga sectors; and(ii) municipal water supply estimated at 24,000m3/day for 300,000 people in Karangazi, Rwimiyaga and Nyagatare sectors in addition to livestock use. Estimated direct employment from the irrigation component would be 37,000 people, while indirect employment would be estimated at 30,000 people.