Urban planning departments should consult environmental and land use experts before allocating land plots just as beneficiaries should before building their homes.

The words are from the specialist in environment and land use planning Bernard Sindayihebura, after a tour with the press on Lake Tanganyika. Huge damage is observed in some buildings along the lake, especially towards the south of the city of Bujumbura.

These constructions include Lacosta Beach in Kibenga and the surrounding houses, Saga Vyondo, Zion Beach, Safari Gate, Safi Beach, in short, the losses are huge all along Lake Tanganyika. And for good reason, the heavy rains over the last two years in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Tanzania, in Zambia and in Burundi, four countries that share Lake Tanganyika. The rainwater that flowed into Lake Tanganyika caused the level of the lake to rise significantly, causing damage due to floods along this lake, explains Professor Bernard Sindayihebura, a specialist in environment and land use planning.

He specifies that on May 12, 2020 at 10:30am, the level of Lake Tanganyika was 776.10 centimeters. He added that Lake Tanganyika reached this level in 1964. This specialist says that in 58 years this phenomenon could happen again, according to research carried out. For Professor Bernard Sindayihebura, the necessary decisions must now be made.

He advises urban planning departments to consult experts before allocating plots and for beneficiaries to question the past before building. According to him, it is necessary to set up a warning coast below which one should never build. Concretely, it is not necessary to take into account the distance on the ground to build, but the alert coast, which will be defined on the basis of historical data, he explained.

At the level of Lake Tanganyika, in certain places where there are anarchic constructions, the State could compensate these inhabitants and define a tourist area with mobile buildings, concluded Professor Bernard Sindayihebura. He indicates that with the dry season, the level of Lake Tanganyika will start to decrease but slowly.