By David Himbara
Here are the latest sanitation statistics from Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA).
As indicated, Rwanda’s sanitation sector has 172 companies that fall in five categories as follows:
- General cleaning services — 141 companies
- Liquid waste water treatment system — 3 companies
- Liquid waste collection and transportation — 2 companies
- Waste recycling and transportation — 23 companies
- Solid waste collection and transportation — 3 companies.
The most sickening statistics is that Rwanda has only 3 companies that collect and transport solid waste and 2 companies to collect and transport liquid waste.
Rwanda has a population of 12 Million of which 1.3 Million live in the capital city, Kigali. How can 3 companies possibly collect and transport solid waste of the entire Rwanda? How can 2 companies possibly collect and transport liquid waste of the entire Rwanda? Much of solid waste in Rwanda ends up either in latrines or ”modern” latrines known as ”septic tanks”. A septic tank is essentially a concrete casing dug into the compound of a household or a business establishment. Both the latrine and the septic tank poison the groundwater. For the past decade, the Kagame government has announced all manner of plans to build a central sewage system for Kigali. None has materialized.
