Muyinga-Kirundo : sites of Cibari and Runanira are slow to be developed, owners of the plots are unhappy

The sites of Cabari and Runanira respectively in the provinces of Muyinga and Kirundo (northeastern Burundi) have been waiting to be serviced for 10 years now, even though their owners have paid the development costs to the BRB* since that time. Owners of the said plots continue to request the implementation of this project which has been seriously delayed. The issue is known to the Ministry of Infrastructure which is doing nothing to resolve it.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The concerned sites are located in the Cibari village of the Muyinga zone and district and Runanira village of the Kirundo zone and district.

According to our sources, administration officials demanded servicing costs ranging from 2,500,000 Burundi francs and more, depending on the surface area of ​​the plot, or even according to the number of plots acquired by an owner.

“We are sorry, we have been waiting for more than 10 years for servicing, in vain. How could we get our money back or how would we be compensated for our money deposited at the BRB?,” lament some owners who are victims of this situation.

And they insist, “Among us there are those who paid more than two million, others up to more than twelve million francs, because the big fish of the ruling party natives of Muyinga and Kirundo provinces had benefited from large shares, that is to say several plots or large plots”.

However, the town planning department in the northern part of the country had reassured them.

Before embarking on paying these servicing costs, the town planning department in the northern region had urged future beneficiaries to pay as quickly as possible in order to begin the subdivision of the plots and their servicing.

“We were under a lot of pressure to pay to the BRB. Payment could be made in two installments with the risk of being removed from the list in the event of delay. People took out debts in banks and microfinance institutions to honor the commitments,” former administration officials from that time told us, specifying that some of them are still in the process of repaying today.

The Ministry of Infrastructure is aware of the situation but is not providing a solution.

“Our ministry seems to ignore it, it concentrates on other activities. We were told before that the servicing market had been launched but 10 years will soon pass,” regrets a head of department within the town planning.

Speculation by senior army and police officers in awarding the market

Speculation in the awarding of this contract is said to be the basis of the slow implementation of the project, according to a source within the ruling party.

“High-ranking members of the army and the police wanted to corner this large market. Generals from Muyinga and Kirundo and even elsewhere each wanted to win the tender for this development project,” say sources within the ruling party who spoke to SOS Médias Burundi on condition of anonymity.

Owners of the plots on these sites are begging the supervisory ministry to carry out this project, which has been pending since 2014.

BRB*: Burundi Central Bank

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A part of the locality of Runanira which should have been serviced 10 years ago (SOS Médias Burundi)