Photo of the week: Bujumbura suffers a gasoline shortage

The commercial capital of Burundi has been idling for more than a month as it suffers from the shortage of gasoline which is a recurring situation. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Regideso (state company for the distribution of water and electricity) which, since recently, imports petroleum products, though it issued press releases and conducted field visits to reassure that there will be no shortage, vehicles and motorbikes every day line up in front of near-dry petrol stations.”

“We spent the whole last week without working”, protested a bus driver.

Everyone is rushing to buy lots of quantities of fuel, thus creating a shortage.

According to Regideso, “there is enough fuel but residents are afraid”.

A driver met at a gas station said he waited 9 hours to fill up. He has a message for the authorities, “I ask them two things : you have to communicate a lot. You have to pass a lot of information. In addition, put pressure on managers of petrol stations. When you see that a petrol station is closed, come and check, because there are station managers who are in bad faith.”

In the the outskirts of the town, the situation remains tense. Kanyosha, south of Bujumbura, is undergoing a gasoline shortage.

Consumers are forced to go to the black market where a liter can be bought for up to 9000 Burundi francs instead of 3400 francs. The center of the commercial city is not either spared.

At petroleum product distribution points, it is always the same sentence that must be repeated to customers : “there is no gasoline. We only have fuel oil”, says Jean Pierre, manager of a petrol station in the north of Bujumbura.

The gasoline shortage has continued to negatively impact economic activities for several days. Many city dwellers say they have difficulty getting to their place of work.

Traffic is fluid, difficult to get a taxi to get around, the few taxis that circulate offer a very high price.

Arsène left Ngagara in the north of Bujumbura for Rohero, a neighborhood in the city center this Wednesday, December 8, he recounts his difficulties.

“The trip is complicated since currently getting your car out of the garage is a problem. And on the price of transport, it is even harder. With this fuel problem, taxi drivers raised the price. Me, I made two stopovers this morning before arriving at my office”, he explains.

The problem of diesel does not arise unlike gasoline, rejoices Vital who has a car that uses diesel.

“I invite the government to do something because this crisis has caused many problems and consequences on economic activities”, he underlined.

Our photo : several cars at a petrol station waiting to be served in the commercial town of Bujumbura, December 2022