Bugesera District

The country has signed a ten-year deal to host a Grand Prix from the early twenty thirties, returning the sport to the African continent for the first time since nineteen ninety-three.

The race will take place at a planned circuit in Bugesera, south of Kigali.

Here's President Kagame.

Formula One is big indeed.

This ten-year partnership is also an investment in Rwanda's future.

The circuit in Bugesera, alongside the new international airport, will bring jobs, skills, tourism, and new business to our country and our region for decades to come, because our aim was never a single race weekend, but a lasting benefit for our people." End quote.

Okay, so it looks like a huge investment in the facility, but also the community because of course, building, staging, hosting a Formula One event is gonna require a lot of personnel and expertise, and it's all part of, you know, developing that.

And, you know, Rwanda is one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa and has, you know, done enormous things in recent times.

Now, 33 years later, Rwanda, after consistent lobbying, is poised to be the continent's next host in the early 2030s.

Formula 1's body announced this week that the African Grand Prix course is currently being constructed in Bugesera, some 40 kilometers from the capital, Kigali, complete with, quote-unquote, "elevation changes, charting quite a unique race." Still, the news has not bothered our sports minister, Gayton McKenzie, who insists that South Africa will get Formula 1 again, potentially even before 2030, he says.

Because last month it emerged that a South African consortium led by ex-Sabanye Stillwater CEO Neil Frohman is bidding to build an F1-graded track in the Western Cape Swartland region to the tune of two billion rand, financially advised by Rothschild & Co.

There is said to be an official F1 business proposal evaluation process underway that may take up to a year to 15 months to complete.

The events will mark the first F1 race on African soil in over thirty years, as NPR's Jewel Bright reports.

Formula One says the races will be called the African Grand Prix and will be held on a new purpose-built circuit in Bugesera, near Rwanda's capital, Kigali.

It will be the first F1 race in Africa since the nineteen ninety-three South African Grand Prix.

F1 officials say they hope the race will offer an opportunity for the sport to expand its profile across Africa.

Andrew Benson reports.

A circuit is being built at Bugesera, near a new international airport about twenty-five miles south of the capital, Kigali.

The first race will be held in the early twenty-thirties, according to Formula One.

The deal is likely to be called sportswashing by human rights groups, as Rwanda's sponsorship agreements with Premier League clubs Arsenal and Aston Villa have been.