Kayanza: the price of the transport ticket is skyrocketing

Residents of the province of Kayanza (northern Burundi) denounce a vertiginous increase in the price of the transport ticket. It went up to the double for local trips on motorcycles. Transporters explain the situation by the lack of fuel at petrol stations. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to witnesses, the price of the ticket for the Kayanza-Bujumbura trip (commercial city) went from 7500 to 10 thousand Burundi francs,
that of Kayanza-Kanyaru (border with Rwanda) having gone from 2,500 to 4,000 francs.

“The price of the transport ticket becomes so unbearable that even the trip on a motorbike is charged twice, going from five hundred to a thousand francs”, lament inhabitants.

Transporters who confided in SOS Médias Burundi explain the situation by a lack of fuel.

“Petrol stations have been dry for days. If a station is supplied, it is stormed by administration, police and military authorities or even influential members of the CNDD-FDD. They almost take all the quantities of fuel available. The fuel is resold at a very exorbitant price on the black market, a liter at 10,000 Burundi francs. How do you expect the price of the ticket to go down?”, they explain. A liter of petrol costs 3250 francs officially.

Parents say they have difficulty getting their children to school.

[…] we fear that the price of basic necessities will skyrocket too”, they say.

Local authorities say they are aware of the situation. They promise to look into it in order to unblock it.