2023-04-28 13:54:49
The energy deficit is hampering the development of our country. Local industries are facing untimely power cuts. The use of energy fossil (generator) to overcome both the problems of power cuts and low intensity is imperative. These are investments that explode production costs. This undermines industrial competitiveness.
Benjamin Kuriyo, Director of publications
The government and its partners are hard at work to increase electricity supply and rehabilitate the dilapidated national electricity network. Burundi has a relatively low electrification rate (around 12%). Most of the rural population does not have access to electricity. Households and industrial units are sorely lacking in processing and conservation infrastructure. This slows economic growth.
A glimmer of hope is on the horizon with the electrification projects underway. In the space of two years, the supply has increased by 22.5 MW. To strengthen the electricity network, it is planned to rehabilitate the power lines ensuring the transport of electricity from one locality to another. During this week, REGIDESO initialed a CONTRACT implementation with a consortium of companies to extend the electrical network and reinforce overloaded substations. The instructions of the minister in charge of energy are formal “The work will last 18 months without the possibility of extending the deadlines”, he specified during oral questions in the Senate.
The said project targets 36 localities in the interior of the country, including 23 municipal capitals and 13 secondary centers deemed important by connection to the Regideso interconnected network. Currently 21 chief towns of municipalities are in the dark. Thus, “the electrification of these centers will lead to the improvement of the living conditions of the populations of the project area by giving them access to modern, clean and less expensive energy services”, reads the project document. .
Electricity is essential to achieve the objectives of sustainable development. It makes it possible to create income-generating activities (hairdressing salons, small shops, carpentry and welding workshops, agricultural product processing units, conservation of perishable products). This accelerates economic activity, and therefore reduces the effects of unemployment, in particular the rural exodus. On the other hand, electricity promotes the emergence of new agro-food industries to add value to agricultural products. Banks will decentralize their services, hospitals and health centers can operate normally and the country’s connectivity to the Internet will accelerate, especially with the exploitation of fiber optics.
It is important to remember that the connection to electricity and the stability of the electric current are among the requirements of investors. The latter require a good business environment and conditions conducive to generating profits and repatriate their capital.
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