The Pont Ruzizi I is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu pr ...

which is one of the customs posts over the

Ruzizi River The Ruzizi (also sometimes spelled Rusizi) is a river, long, that flows from Lake Kivu to Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa, descending from about to about above sea level over its length. The steepest gradients occur over the first , where hy ...

between Bukavu in the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and Cangungu in

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

. The bridge was first built in 1935 and later destroyed to be rebuilt in 1974 in metal and wood (

Bailey bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. A ...

with a capacity to support only lower weight vehicles or carrying less than 3 tonnes. It remained in a state of disrepair until the construction of this new bridge, with a capacity to support up to 30 tonnes, in 2012, with financing from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

in the economic program of the

Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries The Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (ECGLC) (in French CEPGL - ''Communauté Économique des Pays des Grand Lacs'') is a sub-regional organization with multiple purposes created by the signing of the Agreement of Gisenyi in Rwanda ...

. It was inaugurated by the mayor of Bukavu, Bilubi Ulengabo Meschac, on June 19, 2019. At , it is the second longest bridge in Bukavu, after

Pont Ruzizi II The Pont Ruzizi II is one of bridge, bridges in Bukavu which serves as one of the borders customs between Democratic Republic of Congo in the town of Bukavu and Rwanda in the Cyimbogo region over the Ruzizi River. This bridge is located at the re ...

, which is also a border crossing with Rwanda.

References

Ruzizi Bridges in Rwanda Bridges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{Africa-bridge-struct-stub