Bujumbura: repetitive power cuts paralyze businesses

There have been reports of repetitive power cuts in the Burundi’s financial capital, Bujumbura, since days. Residents grumble as traders, doing activities which require electricity, record huge losses. Regideso, in charge of electricity and water management, has not yet reacted. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Many people complain about the intermittent power cuts in the Bujumbura city.

“We are forced to pay a thousand Burundian francs, more than the usual price, to have our hair done. It’s too much money when the economy is bad,” a person leaving a women’s hair salon told SOS Médias Burundi.

Hairdressers in turn say this situation is causing them problems with customers “because they do not understand the issue of fuel consumption. It is a product that costs a lot of money.”

In a restaurant nearby, the manager deplores the losses recorded over the past two weeks.

“We buy food that must be consumed in a day. It is in the morning that we mostly have problems because we can no longer serve the milk. We could sell up to 15 liters per day, but we just takes 5 liters to avoid damage,” he says.

In families used to stocking up on products to keep in the fridge, they rot or deteriorate the next day.

According to testimonies collected by our reporters, the electricity is cut at least four times during the day and throughout the night.

“We no longer understand the reason for Regideso’s existence,” they lament.

Regideso has not yet reacted to residents’ complaints.