BUJUMBURA August 6th (ABP) – The Director General (DG) of REGIDESO, Mr Jean Albert Manigomba, made a field visit, on the route of the drinking water supply project for the localities of Gatunguru, Rubirizi, Tenga, Carama, Gahahe and Maramvya; a project executed by the company Extraco.
That visit started from the departure chamber on the Nyenkarange sub-hill, Rugazi village and commune of Bubanza province; where water from 7 sources on the Bwufire, Nyenkarange and Mubuga hills are combined.
That visit continued to the water tank located on the Karugembe hill in the Muzinda zone where a collecting chamber was built for the water descending from the departure chamber.
The visit ended at the Gahahe reservoir in Mutimbuzi commune, where the water will arrive before being distributed to the northern quarters of the city of Bujumbura.
The Director General of REGIDESO expressed his appreciation indicating that he was not satisfied with the progress of the work. For him, it is clear that the Extraco Company will not complete the work within the deadlines specified in the contract with REGIDESO. It is provided in the contract that the supply of drinking water to the target people will start on August 23. He called on the Extraco Company to do everything possible to complete that work on time, since the people of those localities is in dire need of water which is not distributed on a regular basis.
He hopes that this work will be completed on time for the company Extraco not to be penalized, he said.
At the level of the Extraco Company, its technical director, Mr Jean Ntakarutimana, indicated that the work is at a satisfactory stage, at 80%. He admitted, however, that the deadlines as set in the contract will not be met. He explained that the delay was caused by the negative fallout from Covid-19 which has delayed the supply of pipes that are imported from Uganda. He said in that regard that the company Extraco had sent letters to REGIDESO informing them of the situation.
Mr. Ntakarutimana noted that the company intends to request an extension of the deadlines. He informed that the operations of routing those pipes from Uganda to Burundi have started and that if Covid-19 does not interrupt once again; the work will be completed at the end of next September.
To the question of what REGIDESO intends to do, as the people of the locality of Rugazi who should be compensated claim to be brought back to their rights, indicating that they have not received their compensation, the director of water, Innocent Nkurunziza, explained that the damage caused by destruction of fields and houses has been recorded, lists of beneficiaries were drawn up and co-signed by them, the local administration and up to the national level.
As for those delays, he puts them on the account of statements which are not made over a specific period but which are made gradually according to the stage of the project. The standard would be that those statements are collected all at the end. For him, the beneficiaries will be compensated soon because the compensation base is provided for in the 2021/2022 fiscal year.
The Director General of REGIDESO informed that REGIDESO intends to initiate two other drinking water supply projects: the first concerns the drinking water supply of the southern quarters of the City of Bujumbura from the sources which are located in Mutambu commune of Bujumbura province and that of water catchment from the locality of Matwazo in Isare commune of Bujumbura province.