French based Vivendi Group has entered an agreement with Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to invest in Kigali Cultural Village (KCV) to boost entertainment in the country.
The Kigali Cultural Village is a $40 million project aimed at building an economically viable eco-tourism and cultural village facility within the City of Kigali. It will help to promote and conserve the rich cultural heritage and the environment of Rwanda, generate diversified tourism income for the country and open up new social and entertainment amenities and services.
In the 20-year lease agreement, Vivendi will spend somewhere between $3-4 million in the first phase of the project which is estimated to be completed in six months.
KCV will include a 300-seat modern cinema hall, a 15,000-people open concert area, a food court and a children’s gaming area. The facility will run on sustainable energy.
The facilities will host 19 movie sessions a week, live concerts, cultural and artistic festivals, seminars and conferences.
Phase two will be initiated on completion of phase one and will include Universal recording studios, Escape games, Gameloft E-gaming laboratory and testing factory, a children’s playground, bars and restaurants and the Canal Factory.
The Canal Factory is a modern, compact TV, cinema and music recording studio. The infrastructure will be dedicated to Rwandan talents and students desiring to be trained in the fields of cinematography.
The decision to invest in Rwanda came after French investors, among them President of Bolloré Holdings Cyrille Bolloré, visited the country in January 2018.
“In a meeting with RDB, investment opportunities in different sectors including tourism were highlighted.”
Vivendi Group owns Canal+ which recently acquired Nigeria-based Rok Studios.
