As it is, the country has been laying a fibre optic infrastructure to ensure access across the country. Now enter the "SCADA system in the fray! This is set to put national utility infrastructure at the forefront of the ICT infrastructure drive. Granted, this may not be the core mission of the utility, "the business of business is business", as someone aptly put it sometime long ago. If the national utility is able to utilize its grid infrastructure to add to the nation's ICT infrastructure, Rwanda will best be served.

As it is, the country has been laying a fibre optic infrastructure to ensure access across the country. Now enter the "SCADA system in the fray! This is set to put national utility infrastructure at the forefront of the ICT infrastructure drive. Granted, this may not be the core mission of the utility, "the business of business is business", as someone aptly put it sometime long ago. If the national utility is able to utilize its grid infrastructure to add to the nation's ICT infrastructure, Rwanda will best be served.

"The OFC Transmission and SCADA System project being developed by EWSA (ex.RECO&RWASCO) in cooperation with DRAKA brings together different systems partly related to broadband communication, such as an Optical fibre Cable (OFC) backbone and distribution links, Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) transmission at STM- 1/4 traffic, and Internet Protocol Branch Exchange (IPBX)system; and partly related to energy management, including Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition/Energy Management (SCADA/EM) system software and hardware", says an official in the know.

This is indeed a mouthful, but the core idea that the utility will be able to leverage its growing grid infrastructure to actively participate in the ICT revolution in the country. 

The DRAKA Project is based on an EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) Contract composed of survey, design and engineering, training, technical assistance, capacity building program, project management, commissioning, network integration, final acceptance and turn-key delivery to EWSA(ex.RECO&RWASCO).

DRAKA (Netherlands) and its branch Office in Kigali is the Main Contractor and OFC supplier for the project. Other key partners within the project are PSI (Germany) for the SCADA/EM System and ECI (Israel) for the SDH Transmission system.

"The communication system being installed will form part of Rwanda's National Fibre Backbone. Besides providing higher broadband nationwide, the project will allow Rwanda to connect its gateways to neighboring countries in future projects, as well as the submarine cable backbone being installed in the Eastern Africa", an official commented.

"With Relation to power infrastructure the project will allow EWSA(ex.RECO&RWASCO) to effectively manage its high and mid voltage grid, improving delivery, services and bringing direct benefits to customers all over the country", he added;

The Project started in September 2008 and is scheduled to run over a two-year span. Contract budget is 25 million, half of which is covered by a grant from Dutch foreign aid program, Development-Related Export Transaction Program (ORET). 

Further to technological advances provided by the state of the art energy management system and broadband communication system, the project is expected to deliver immediate socio economic developments to Rwanda, setting a milestone in the nation's Vision 2020 Socio-Economic Plan. .

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