Rwanda leaves prime ‘gift’ land redundant, grabbed by citizens

Emmanuel Hategeka, Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Commerce. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA 

By Moses K Gahigi

IN SUMMARY

• In 2013, Djibouti gave Rwanda 20 hectares of land in one of the country’s most strategic locations, but three years later, the land is not yet developed.
• The country was also given land near the Mombasa port in 2012 by the government of Kenya, to develop warehouses to ease cargo handling for Rwandan traders.

Government has continued to render prime land given to it in other countries redundant, hence losing out on economic benefits that would be accrued from the ‘gift’ land.

In 2013, Djibouti gave Rwanda 20 hectares of land in one of the country’s most strategic locations, but three years later, the land is not yet developed.

The land is situated at the intersection of one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, near the autonomous port of Djibouti (PAID) and Dubai world international port.

The country was also given land near the Mombasa port in 2012 by the government of Kenya, to develop warehouses to ease cargo handling for Rwandan traders.

The permanent secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry Emmanuel Hategeka said they are looking for investors in the private sector to develop the land.

“What is clear is there is good potential to develop a trade facility to support Rwanda’s presence on the sea, we want to explore sea to air transport, a few investors have expressed interests,” he said.

The land in Mombasa lay undeveloped until someone seized it, when Rwanda attempted to reclaim it, the process took long. “It took us long to remove the person” said Francois Kanimba, the Minister of Commerce and Industry.

After this ordeal, the Kenyan government gave Rwanda an alternative piece of land, but this has also not yet been developed, with the minister saying they are waiting for confirmation from Kenya that the alternative land is free for investment.

Rwandan traders continue to complain of the high trading costs due to long periods at the port awaiting the cumbersome verification process by Kenyan ports authority.

At least 40 per cent of Rwandan imports and exports pass through Mombasa.

The rapid growth in trade volumes at the port, poor urban planning especially at the ship-to-shore interface, and low container storage capacity, has led to high cargo dwell time at the port.

For the land given by Tanzania around the Dar es salaam port, Mr Kanimba said, “Tanzania has not really given the Rwandan government any land, we got a message that 3 hectares were earmarked for Rwanda, but we have to pay Tsh3 billion for expropriation.”

The Rwandan embassy in the country could not clearly identify the land. “We are looking to renew our request to the Tanzanian government, we need an area where we can develop our off dock facility at the port of Dar es Salaam” said Mr Kanimba.

“Djibouti is very strategically located, having a footprint there for a country like Rwanda is strategic to reduce transaction costs,” Antonio Pedro, the UNECA director for sub regional office for East Africa, said.

“Having a direct access to a very strategic hub like Djibouti becomes imperative for international trade, there is a route to Europe that goes through the Middle East,” he added.