CTB (Belgian Technical Cooperation) projects have managed to save many lives thanks to their work in the above mentioned areas.–Joanna Nganda
CTB’s work that protected the population of Kamenge, Kinama and Cibitoke.©Iwacu
“My house is near the road and although a lot of water got inside the house, we could see that a lot more water was contained by the canals…I can only imagine what would have happened if the canal hadn’t been here,” says Juma, a resident of Kinama. The floods that have been affecting Bujumbura have caused a lot of infamous damages, but at Kamenge, Kinama and Cibitoke, the damages are only material and here is why: “we made canals throughout the area, and a big collector where all the water from Nyabagere and Gasenyi rivers could be contained, therefore limiting the damage to material losses at Kamenge, Kinama and Cibitoke. The floods caused no deaths”, notes Olivier Chanoine, Paving Project Joint Management Delogate at CTB. He continues: “The city of Bujumbura is expanding, which is normal, but people are not always choosing the best places to move to. Carama 1, for instance, is a perfect example to illustrate that: it’s basically a former rice field…and to add insult to injury, the road level is higher than the level of Carama 1. All this makes that neighborhood an unfortunate candidate to terrible floods. When you live in an empty swimming pool, it’s only normal to get your feet wet when it rains.” In its upcoming projects, CTB wants to bypass Gasenyi River then divert it via a one-kilometer long canal all the way into an oulet, away from neighborhoods crammed with people. Olivier Chanoine wishes that people could be more careful as to where they chose to live and the urbanism authority more watchful, “Mutakura used to be a small urbanized area. Right now, it’s expanding, but expanding towards rice fields…in the next few years, they will be in trouble if there are floods” states Olivier Chanoine, highlighting the fact that climate change is only getting worse, making the sad scenario realistic.
Draining demands titanic work and funds; to help protect Bujumbura against future floods, CTB will do what they can with what they have, although their budget is limited. CTB might even decrease the amount of paving work to focus more on drainage. However, Olivier Chanoine urges people to do what they can at a community level. Indeed, according to him, Bujumbura’s city center is designed in a very appropriate way but unfortunately the population doesn’t maintain it well. “CTB has a lot of problems regarding gutters’ overflows caused by household waste thrown in the gutters”, indicates Olivier Chanoine.
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The Good Citizen’s checklist:
Effective household waste management and gutters maintenance
Plant trees to reduce the rainwater flow
Invest in a rainwater harvesting system with a tank (catch up to 500 liters with every 10mm of rain)
2,60.
IWACU Open Data
