By Andrew Ross

KIGALI, Rwanda 

Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday opened a new social economic development center aimed at improving the lives of up to 25,000 people living in the remote Ruhunda area in Eastern Rwanda.

Sponsored in part by The Coca Cola Company, the EkoCenter, will allow communities in the area to have access to various health services and purified water.

"I am pleased to join you in the opening of this project which will help better the lives of our people in Ruhunda," Rwandan President Paul Kagame told the opening ceremony.

Most of the residents of Ruhunda are farmers who have no access to clean water for drinking, electricity and other social amenities.

Linda Nadege a farmer who came to see the unveiling of the project told Anadolu Agency described their hopefully former hardships.

"Just yesterday I had to travel for miles to get water for drinking, water which is not safe for drinking," Nadege said.

"You have to go back home and boil the water, we are used to living without electricity which has even made our lives harder, be it security-wise, for cooking or for our children to study."

The Ekocenter also aims to provide access to medicine, solar power and 3G mobile connectivity.

Paul Bati, also a farmer from the area, told Anadolu Agency that his kids used to study in very terrible conditions.

"It was bad, they used to read using kerosene lamps and other means which made them sick," Bati said.

A health facility in Ruhunda called Center De Sante Ruhunda will also be stocked with all the necessary equipment needed in a maternal hospital including CT scans, hospital beds and wheelchairs, for instance.