Waterways Assessment
Rwanda is a land-locked and mountainous country, and its transportation system focusses on land infrastructure. Although Rwanda has many lakes and rivers which might attract both the transport of passengers and goods, there is no significant inland waterway services except the very limited waterway operations in Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu, forming the border with DRC operates occasional boat services from Cyangugu, Kibuye and Gisenyi but not on a regular timetable and often have to be chartered. Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika.
In the past, Lake Kivu drained toward the north, contributing to the White Nile. About 13,000 to 9,000 years ago, volcanic activity blocked Lake Kivu's outlet to the watershed of the Nile. The volcanism produced mountains, including the Virungas, which rose between Lake Kivu and Lake Edward, to the north. Water from Lake Kivu was then forced south down the Ruzizi. This, in turn, raised the level of Lake Tanganyika, which overflowed down the Lukuga River.
Lake Kivu is approximately 42 km (26 mi) long and 50 km (31 mi) at its widest. Its irregular shape makes measuring its precise surface area difficult; it has been estimated to cover a total surface area of some 2,700 km2 (1,040 sq mi), making it Africa's eighth largest lake. The surface of the lake sits at a height of 1,460 meters (4,790 ft) above sea level. This lake has a chance of suffering a limnic eruption every 1000 years. The lake has a maximum depth of 475 m (1,558 ft) and a mean depth of 220 m (722 ft), making it the world's twentieth deepest lake by maximum depth, and the thirteenth deepest by mean depth.
Some 1,370 square kilometres (529 sq mi) or 58 percent of the lake's waters lie within DRC borders.
The lakebed sits upon a rift valley that is slowly being pulled apart, causing volcanic activity in the area.
The world's tenth-largest island in a lake, Idjwi, lies in Lake Kivu, within the boundaries of Virunga National Park. Settlements on the lake's shore include Bukavu, Kabare, Kalehe, Sake and Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gisenyi, Kibuye, and Cyangugu in Rwanda.
Scientists hypothesise that sufficient volcanic interaction with the lake's bottom water that has high gas concentrations would heat water, force the methane out of the water, spark a methane explosion, and trigger a nearly simultaneous release of carbon dioxide, though the entry of 1 million cubic meters of lava during the January 2002 eruption had no effect. The carbon dioxide would then suffocate large numbers of people in the lake basin as the gases roll off the lake surface. It is also possible that the lake could spawn tsunamis as gas explodes out of it.
The risk posed by Lake Kivu began to be understood during the analysis of more recent events at Lake Nyos. Lake Kivu's methane was originally thought to be merely a cheap natural resource for export, and for the generation of cheap power. Once the mechanisms that caused lake overturns began to be understood, so did awareness of the risk the lake posed to the local population.
An experimental vent pipe was installed at Lake Nyos in 2001 to remove gas from the deep water, but such a solution for the much larger Lake Kivu would be considerably more expensive. The approximately 510 million metric tons (500×106 long tons) of carbon dioxide in the lake is a little under 2 percent of the amount released annually by human fossil fuel burning. Therefore, the process of releasing it could potentially have costs beyond simply building and operating the system.
There are also small boats usually in dugout canoes or hand-crafted boats used to ferry people to some of the islands in the lake.
With respect to transport cost: Speed boat which carries 10 people is hired at 312 USD from Kibuye to Gisenyi in 1hour and 30 minutes owned by individuals.
For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Government Contact List.
Company Information
Rwanda is a land-locked and mountainous country, and its transportation system focusses on land infrastructure. The main transport of goods using the Lake Kivu is BRALIRWAs’ beverages from Gisenyi brewing factory to Kibuye as transportation costs with considerable quantity of heavy goods is lower than of road transport.
For more information on waterway company contact details, please see the following link: 4.4 Port and Waterways Companies Contact.
