A Rwandan leather factory that fell foul of pollution laws will resume operations in October, according to local reports. Kigali Leather factory, a skin tanning and leather company that operates out of the Rwandan capital, had its license suspended in May after it was found to be allowing toxic run-off to be discharged into the Akagera River.

Speaking to local media Yuan Wang, the managing director of Kigali Leather, said: “After we were suspended, we ordered for machinery to build the waste water treatment plant. The equipment has already arrived and we are waiting for engineers to build the system.”

“The installation will take one month and by early October we will have resumed operations”.

Remy Duhuze, REMA’s director of Environmental Regulations & Pollution Control, said that after suspending the factory, they inspected it again to look into the progress. “We have agreed with the factory on what to do in line with Environmental Impact Assessment and they have now imported machinery from China. After installing, we will assess its operational capacity,” he said.