Local civil society group OLUCOME has urged Burundi’s state-owned utility, REGIDESO, to compensate households and businesses hit by a week-long power outage in many parts of the country caused by infrastructure upgrade works.
Large parts of the country remain without electricity, a situation OLUCOME says has caused severe economic and social disruption, particularly in urban areas.
“This power cut has had enormous consequences, especially on health services and commercial activities, which have been heavily impacted by REGIDESO’s unplanned outage,” OLUCOME spokesperson Alexis Nimubona told local media on Tuesday. “We cannot ignore the thousands of households whose daily lives depend on electricity and water.”
The watchdog group criticized the government for failing to adequately prepare for the blackout, despite REGIDESO being aware of the duration and scale of the works that caused the disruption.
“Bujumbura alone accounts for more than 80% of the country’s economy. The government should have taken measures to mitigate the socio-economic consequences we are witnessing today,” Nimubona said, adding that the state should “consider compensation for victims of these repeated and prolonged outages.”
REGIDESO, however, says the outage is the result of essential works to connect the new Rubirizi substation to the 110 kV Gahongore–RN1 transmission line. The company’s director general, Jean Albert Manigomba, said during a site visit earlier this week that the works are on track to be completed by Thursday.
“The pylons currently being installed required us to temporarily suspend the electricity supply. If no other obstacles arise, we expect to finish by August 14,” Manigomba said.
For now, much of Burundi remains in the dark as residents and businesses wait to see if REGIDESO’s deadline will be met — and whether any compensation will follow.
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