Rwanda Government and Qatar Airways have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU provides for a 60 percent stake in a new $1.3bn international airport in Bugesera district, about 25km from Rwanda’s capital Kigali. The investment from Qatar Airways would enable it to build a larger airport. The initial plan was for a smaller facility with a maximum capacity of 4.5 million passengers a year. The revised plan would provide facilities for seven million passengers a year in the first phase followed by expansion to handle 14 million passengers a year in the second phase.
The partnership covers three agreements to build, own, and operate the state-of-the-art facility. Revealing the plans, at a press conference, Rwanda’s infrastructure minister Claver Gatete added that they are yet to identify a construction company to build the airport. According to some resources, Rwanda has signed a deal with the African division of Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil to build an international airport at a cost of $818m.
