KIGALI, Rwanda, Oct 22 (NNN-XINHUA) – Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, officially inaugurated a dry port, Kigali Logistics Platform, Rwanda’s largest inland cargo handling facility, in the capital city of Kigali, as the landlocked country bids to become a regional logistics hub.
The platform also hosts a 2,500-square metre bonded warehouse of Rwanda Digital Trading Hub of Alibaba Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), Yiwu Global Innovation Centre.
China’s e-commerce powerhouse, Alibaba, Zhejiang China Commodities City Group, and the port operator, Dubai Ports World, target to build the bonded warehouse, as a central warehouse for Chinese commodities in East Africa, and innovate the mode of import and export trade on this basis.
The port that costs 35 million U.S. dollars, spans over 130,000 square metres, including a 12,000-square metre container yard, and a 19,600 square-metre warehousing facility. It has an annual capacity of 640,000 tonnes of warehousing space.
Kigali Logistics Platform, located in Masaka, Kigali’s suburbs, serves as a gateway to the heart of Africa, connecting Rwanda to neighbouring countries including, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The facility will also ease access to the ports of Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
DP World, a United Arab Emirates firm, constructed the facility under a 25-year concession agreement with the government of Rwanda, signed in 2016. It has been operational since Sept last year, in test mode.
Since the commencement of its operations, Kigali Logistics Platform has reduced truck turnaround time, from an average of 10 to 14 days, to only three days.
When operating at full capacity, it has the potential to save Rwandan businesses up to 50 million U.S. dollars a year, in logistics costs.
The dry port is very important for Rwanda, in regional and international trade, as it will ease trade, not only in Rwanda, but also in its neighbouring markets, Rwanda’s minister of trade, Soraya Hakuziyaremye, said, at the launching ceremony of the facility.
The Kigali Logistics Platform comes at a “pivotal” moment in Afrca’s economic transformation, said Kagame, who challenged business people and investors to make full use of the facility.
Rwandan President Kagame said, “The future of trade and integration in Africa lies in the African Continental Free Trade Area, but trade agreements and economic policies won’t have much impact, without actual infrastructure.”
DP World and the government of Rwanda are exploring the expansion of the Kigali Logistics Platform, to increase efficiency and provide more logistics solutions, he concluded.
