Burundi signed a 25-year, $1.4 billion partnership on 15 October handing electricity distribution in about half the country to Weza Power, part of the American-backed Anzana Electric Group. The company plans to build or upgrade 52,000 kilometres of lines and connect over 1.2 million homes and businesses, reaching about eight million people by 2030. Only an estimated 12–20% of Burundians have grid power; the state utility REGIDESO keeps transmission and distribution in the other half. Development lenders including the World Bank and the US International Development Finance Corporation are financing the deal, which its backers say adds nothing to public debt while putting half of one of Africa’s least-electrified grids under private operation.
Sources
- Agence Ecofin: https://www.agenceecofin.com/actualites-infrastructures/1810-142529-le-britannique-gridworks-renforce-son-empreinte-en-afrique-avec-un-projet-electrique-ciblant-8-millions-de-personnes
- Taarifa Rwanda: https://taarifa.rw/2026/10/17/burundi-signs-historic-1-4-billion-deal-to-bring-electricity-to-eight-million-people/
- Pan African Visions: https://panafricanvisions.com/2026/10/anzana-electric-makes-history-in-burundi-with-1-4-billion-deal-to-power-eight-million-people/