Guillaume Muhoza
. The Minister of Commerce Marie Chantal Nijimbere visited these two places on 5 October 2022
. The 2 sites visited are the renovation of the port of Bujumbura and the construction of a refrigerated terminal at the Melchior Ndadaye Airport
. She noted delays in progress and called on the teams to speed up to complete the work
The objective of the visit of the Minister of Commerce, on Tuesday 5 October 2022, was to see the progress of the work being carried out in these two places.
Marie Chantal Nijimbere first visited the Port of Bujumbura which is being renovated under joint funding from the AfDB and the European Union.
The rehabilitation works of the Port of Bujumbura include the rehabilitation of the South and North cargo quay, the North jetty, the construction of a new embankment (South), the construction of a passenger quay, dredging and excavation works, demolition works of the existing jetty, the fitting out of offices and others.
After noting that the work is not progressing at the desired pace, the Commission has asked the Agency to take into account the fact that the renovation project for this port will end in March 2023. She asked the executing agency to double its efforts to complete the work before the end of this period.
At Melchior Ndadaye International Airport, the Minister visited the infrastructure of the refrigerated terminal which will cost around 1.8 million USD.
The work, financed by the World Bank, is already three months behind schedule and is expected to be finally completed in November.
This refrigerated terminal will allow the storage of perishable products intended for export at a time when private exporters are experiencing difficulties in exporting their agricultural products, while the Burundian economy depends essentially on agriculture.
