Together with key players from the private sector the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has started its digital mobility concept “Moving Rwanda” in the metropolitan area of the country‘s capital Kigali today. “Moving Rwanda” connects the production of Volkswagen cars in Kigali, which will start in the near future, with a shared usage concept as well as with a training initiative for modern professions. The concept aims at implementing environmentally friendly car sharing models with plans for the utilisation of electric cars as a further future goal.
Germany supports the initiative by establishing a digitisation centre for specialised personnel and know-how transfer in the capital Kigali, together with Rwandan partners. Besides its cooperation with Volkswagen the BMZ is also partnering with Siemens, SAP and Inros Lackner to implement the concept.
“We want to provide modern training opportunities for Rwanda‘s youth”, Federal Minister Gerd Müller said. “By doing that, we provide these young people with future prospects in their home country – as mechanics for fleet maintenance or as software developers. This is a further commitment with respect to the concrete implementation of our ‘Marshallplan with Africa’”.
With regard to economic growth, digitisation and urban development Rwanda is one of the leading countries in Africa. The country has ambitious plans for smart mobility, in 2016 Rwanda introduced a bus system with on board WIFI, bicycle traffic received active support and pedestrian pavements are currently being built.
“African cities are facing major challenges. Already today half a billion people live there, soon there will be twice as many. We need sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility concepts, otherwise the cities will drown in traffic jams, air pollution and noise. With the ‘Moving Rwanda’ project we want to provide digital solutions. Three in four Africans have a cell phone, but only 4 percent own a car. The tech-savvy population can now use an app to find a car-sharing opportunity or to rent a car. Such modern mobility concepts provide signal effects for all of Africa.” continued Federal Minister Müller
“Having the German Government and other German companies supporting our planned Integrated Mobility Solution for Rwanda is just reward for the team that has been working so hard on turning what was just a dream 18 months ago into a reality” commented Thomas Schaefer Chairman and Managing Director of Volkswagen South Africa.
Germany‘s BMZ has for a long time been supporting sustainable city transport. Currently more than 1 000 specialised and management personnel are being trained and provided advanced vocational training opportunities. Among others the leading personnel of transport services in African metropolitan areas such as Accra, Addis Ababa, Lagos and Nairobi have been linked up with German experts from the fields of municipalities, the economy and science. At the same time the BMZ together with Germany‘s development bank KfW provides one billion Euro for investments in sustainable transport systems in developing and emerging countries. These funds – among others – provide finance for a rail network in Tunisia’s capital Tunis, cycle lanes in Namibia’s capital Windhoek and energy efficient water transport in the port city of Kochi in southern India.
Alan Straton
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