Volume I: Investment Prospectus Rwanda Electricity Sector Access ...

1 Purpose of ProspectusThe Government of Rwanda has set ambitious targets for extending electricity access underthe Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS). The Government’stargets call for the total number of electricity connections to be increased from around100,000 connections to 350,000 connections by 2012, with a special emphasis on connectingsocial infrastructure—health facilities, schools and administrative offices.This Access Programme Investment Prospectus (the “Prospectus”) presents a five year planfor extending electricity access that achieves Rwanda’s EDPRS targets and integratestechnical, financing and implementation planning components. The Prospectus seeks to raiseUS$250 million from development partners to fund access programme investments. TheProspectus aims to ease the analytical burden on development partners by providing credibleinformation on Rwanda’s electrification plans and presenting all relevant information andanalysis on the access programme in one document.This Prospectus focuses on the period from 2009–2013 although the electricity accessprogramme will continue beyond 2013. The technical, financing and implementation planpresented in this Prospectus has been developed using a longer-term planning horizon to2020. The results of this planning exercise indicate that the sector will become morefinancially self-sustaining after 2013, which will reduce the level of financial support neededfrom development partners.The approach to achieving the Government’s electrification targets is driven by buildinglocal implementation capacity from a low starting base and encouraging long-term financialsustainability in the electricity sector. This Prospectus offers development partners anopportunity to contribute to the access programme in Rwanda by providing grant financefor the programme.The access programme in Rwanda is taking place within a sector-wide approach to energyinvestment, which facilitates cooperation between the Government and developmentpartners on electricity sector expansion. The paradigm of the sector-wide approach lendsitself naturally to broad funding approaches such as general budget support, earmarkedbudget support and sector-specific basket funding. However, other funding arrangementscan also be used to implement the investments presented in this Prospectus, for example,targeted mechanisms such as project-specific support and technical assistance funds.The contents of this Prospectus are as follows:• Section 2. Access Programme is a Critical Part of Electricity SectorDevelopment—provides essential background to the access programme. Thissection illustrates that the access programme is an important step to provide moreRwandans with modern forms of energy and greater economic opportunities. TheGovernment’s targets for electricity access are presented• Section 3. Sector Institutions Ready for Access Programme—describes themeasures the Government has put in place to prepare for the access programme.This section discusses how the programme takes place within a new paradigm ofsector-side development, which relies on a coordinated and consistent approach toelectrification. This section also presents an overview of current sector institutions,policy direction, and relevant laws and regulations1