2023-10-05 10:23:19
In his presentation of the implementation report of the government’s action plan for the 2nd half of the 2023 financial year before Parliament, the Prime Minister took stock of the relaunch of construction work on the hydroelectric dam on the Kaburantwa river in Mugwi commune. in Cibitoke.
It was this Monday, October 2, in front of an audience of parliamentarians that Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca announced that as of today, the execution rate of the construction work on this dam is at 94%. This is progress for this power plant whose work is struggling to be completed to be able to supply its 20 MW.
According to the Prime Minister, turbines and other accessories should be installed in the location of this power plant. “This has been done but the dam has not yet been commissioned. For good reason, the company carrying out the work did not provide the equipment and personnel on time,” he regrets.
And it’s not all setbacks. Barely had the contracts with the company Angelique International Limited, the project manager, been signed and even before the actual start of the work, indicates the Prime Minister, this company requested an amendment to the contract equivalent to 10 million dollars.
“The original contract was for $76 million. The revised contract was for $86 million. The Indian bank Exim Bank announced that the new contract was non-revisable. said the Prime Minister.
And there, serious problems began: “In the meantime there was the Covid pandemic, the employees were struck by this illness and the company found itself without money to continue the work” he justifies.
Even though the work was relatively advanced, with an execution rate exceeding 90%, explains the Prime Minister, the time was running out and the bank which had granted the credit began to demand repayment of the credit and arrears. ‘accumulated.
“Exim Bank refused to pay the invoices of the company Angelique International Limited and as a result the work stopped.” In the second quarter, Gervais Ndirakobuca said, arrears were more than $8 million.
According to the Prime Minister, the government decided to initiate negotiations with this bank to make it clear that it would be impossible to repay the loan contracted while the dam is not yet operational, without the Burundians benefiting from this hydroelectric power station.
What setbacks!
“This bank demanded that we get what we owed first and then see what happens next. The Burundian government has already paid half. We told them that we cannot pay in full for a plant that has not yet produced electricity. But the rate of execution of the construction work on this dam is satisfactory”wanted to reassure.
There is always a catch: “The company which took over the construction work of this hydroelectric power station on the Kaburantwa river in Mugwi commune of the province of Cibitoke, is requesting 15 million dollars for the finishing touches.”
According to the Prime Minister, this dam has experienced many hazards. For this project, he notes, people were content with old studies done at the time of the first Republic of Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, and did not make the necessary readjustments as for the 21 km macadamized road. connecting this dam to the main axis valued at the time at 3 million dollars.
It was in 2011 that the project to build this hydroelectric power station, Kabu-16, was adopted by the National Assembly. The work should begin around mid-November 2012 to be spread over 34 months but it did not begin until 2017. At one point the end of work on this project was scheduled for March 31, 2023.
But this work has only stalled following various setbacks such as the refusal to send equipment following the standoff over their prices, there was Covid, lack of staff, studies showing gaps, requests revision of prices and extensions of the execution times of the work initially agreed.
But above all there were delays in loan repayment and interest arrears. And as a corollary, Exim Bank suspended payments to the company Angelique International Limited which had won the trust of the Burundian government for the execution of this project to build the hydroelectric power station, Kabu 16.
Abbas Mbazumutima (Ours)
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