On 21st May 2009, Mr Ben Kalkman, CEO of the Banque Populaire du Rwanda, and Mr. Arno de Vette, the representative of the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) signed a six year loan agreement of four million euros (over 3.1 billion Rwandan francs). The FMO loan is provided to Banque Populaire du Rwanda within the framework of promoting the use of renewable energies, specifically domestic biogas in Rwanda. The Banque Populaire will use this fund to provide credit to farmers wishing to invest in biogas.
The ceremony was attended by Dr. Eng. Albert Butare, State Minister in Charge of Energy and Water in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Mr. James MusoniI, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. François Kanimba, the National Bank Governor, representatives of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, SNV and GTZ.
In his remarks, Mr Arno de Vette praised the role played by SNV in incorporating FMO into the National Domestic Biogas Programme in Rwanda. SNV played a big role in brokering the funds from FMO. FMO also supports the domestic biogas programme in Asia.
At the same occasion, a cooperation agreement was signed between Ministry of Infrastructure and Banque Populaire setting out a collaborative program to enable farmers who meet the National Domestic Biogas Programme requirements, to have easy access to a loan for the construction of a biogas digester at their home. The biogas digester will provide energy for the household for cooking and lighting needs. The biogas loan product has been developed by Banque Populaire du Rwanda in collaboration with Ministry of Infrastructure with SNV support, and will be rolled out over the coming months in all its branches countrywide. It is expected that this new credit line will support up to 15,000 farmers significantly increasing the number of digesters that will be installed every year.