The Congolese National Assembly briefed on the Progress of Road Infrastructure
He was at the National Representation on Friday 17 November 2017, in order to answer the oral question with debate addressed to him by the Tshangu representative, the Honorable Serge Mayamba Massaka. He is Thomas Luhaka, Minister of Infrastructure, Public Works and Reconstruction -ITPR-. In addition to Mayamba Serge, Thomas Luhaka also recorded the concerns of 34 successive National Deputies in the gallery to question him about some of the shadows contained in his response to the Honorable Mayamba’s oral question. Not being able to immediately reply, in view of the number of concerns raised, and to enable him to prepare the elements of the appropriate answers, Thomas Luhaka requested and obtained from the 1st Vice-President of the National Assembly a delay of 48 hours. Ultimately, it is this Tuesday, November 21, the Minister of ITPR will be back to the National Assembly.
It is within the framework of the parliamentary control that the Honorable Serge Mayamba had deposited at the office of the National Representation, since November 1st, 2017, an oral question with debate addressed to the Minister of ITPR, Thomas Luhaka.
Although the initiator was previously satisfied, after having examined, thoroughly, the activity report of the ITPR, even before the programming of his oral question with debate, Serge Mayamba was encouraged by his peers to continue his approach to the end .
Thus, after having resembled the three main aspects of the oral question with debate, the Minister of ITPR, Thomas Luhaka has exposed in front of the elected representatives of the people, the balance sheet of his portfolio which, despite the difficult economic situation, works without stopping the reconstruction of the country, as advocated by the Head of State, Joseph Kabila, initiator of the revolution of modernity. It is with modesty and frankness that he has reported the achievements to the elected representatives of the people.
Most of the concerns, it should be emphasised, were focused on road infrastructures, mainly in the Kinshasa City-Province and some new provinces in the east of the country and in Ecuador. But, his presentation took away the myth that the western part of the DRC was neglected. However, after clear and precise answers, 34 national deputies raised new concerns. Thus, to satisfy these elected officials, the Minister requested and obtained a deadline of 42 hours, to come and answer. Appointment is made for this Tuesday, November 21, 2017.
Response to the oral question addressed to His Excellency the Minister of ITPR by the Honorable Serge Mayamba
Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly,
Honorable Members of the Bureau,
Honorable Members,
Being in front of the National Representation, I would like to salute the remarkable presence of the Honourable President and of all the Members of the Bureau for the interest they continue to show in the running of the affairs of our country and especially to its development. integral.
I also greet all the Honourable Members, especially the Honourable Mayamba Massaka Serge, for the importance and relevance of the oral question he has addressed to me and for which he has just delivered the quintessence.
Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly,
Honourable members of the Bureau,
Honourable Members,
In my role, that of reporting to the Congolese people at all times that you represent validly here, let me express to you all the respect I owe to this people for their attentive ear which they continue to lend to all the actions that affect his daily life.
It is precisely to improve the life of every day that His Excellency the President of the Republic, Head of State, Mr. Joseph Kabila Kabange had had this prospective idea to initiate the two concepts for the reconstruction of our country known under the names of “5 Chantiers” and the “Revolution of Modernity.
For the Government, the two concepts initiated by His Excellency the President of the Republic have been translated into sectoral programs. The Ministry of Infrastructure, Public Works and Reconstruction, which I am currently in charge of, is highly concerned by these programs.
Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly,
Honourable Members of the Bureau,
Honourable Members,
The oral question addressed to me by the Honorable Member Mayamba Massaka Serge has three main aspects, I quote:
What is your assessment of your ministry’s policy regarding the process of rebuilding the country?
What is the rate of completion of the work undertaken since its management was entrusted to you, with presentation of an indicative table?
Should we consider that to date, the action of your ministry tends to privilege the rehabilitation of road infrastructures in the city of Kinshasa and in the Eastern Provinces of the country, thus devoting the abandonment of others as former Province of Ecuador?
Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly,
Honourable Members of the Bureau,
Honourable Members,
Faced with this questioning of a remarkable coherence and full of common sense, I must answer with a lot of modesty and frankness in order to account to all of you, who are the emanation of the Congolese people.
But before anything else, I would say before this microphone that by initiating the two concepts that I had just mentioned, the initiative of the President of the Republic I said was of absolute nobility.
Taken in normal times, that is at the moment when the economic situation of our country was in a state of recovery, this initiative should boost the priority sectors for the reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of Congo and that the ultimate goal of to improve the daily life of all our populations.
Any program has a cost. The Democratic Republic of Congo first had to rely on its own ability to mobilize funding for these sectoral programs before hoping for support from external resources.
But, alas, it was not counting with the fall of the courses of the mineral resources which incited the Government of the Republic to modify downwards the pretensions expressed in various programs.
Honourable Members,
The DRC’s vision for the transport sector by 2035, according to the National Strategic Development Plan, PNSD in acronym, is to have a transport system with all interconnected infrastructure networks, functional in all seasons and at the service of national integration, economic development and poverty reduction.
In line with the vision of the sector, the road sub-sector of the DRC aims, by 2035, a main road network all year round and at the service of national integration, economic development and the reduction of poverty. It is materialized thanks to a strategy that integrates, beyond the national budget resources, various financing participants including Public-Private Partners.
With regard to the public buildings sector, the vision is to provide the Ministry with investment planning for the maintenance, modernization, extension of old buildings and construction of new ones. The objective is to reduce, if not cancel, the expenses related to the renting of buildings to house the State services, on the one hand, and to guarantee the State agents the best conditions of work, on the other hand.
In relation to the process of rebuilding our country, the policy of the Ministry that I have the honour to lead is based on three pillars for road infrastructure, namely:
Pillar 1: rehabilitation of old asphalt roads and construction of new ones;
Pillar 2: the restoration of the traffic on the earth network;
Pillar 3: Protection and maintenance of the road network.
In order to better understand the record of the Ministry’s policy in the road sub-sector, I consider it necessary to give a brief overview of the road network of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Indeed, as you know, the road network of our country is 152.400 Km long, of which 58.129 constitute the so-called network of “general interest” which concerns my ministry through the Office of Roads.
From this network of general interest, it has been defined a so-called “priority” network of 30,788 Km consisting of roads linking the provincial capitals and those linking the main socio-economic pools of the country.
Due to the precariousness of the resources, an ultra-priority network, 15,800 km long, was defined, draining more or less 90% of the road traffic that had to be prioritized in the interventions.
In 2001, at the advent of His Excellency Joseph Kabila, the country is divided into several territories completely isolated from each other following the wars that the country has experienced. The maintenance of the road network suffers from the consequences of armed conflicts and the road agencies are unable to take charge of the entire network.
It is in this context that the reunification efforts of the country will be accompanied by the implementation of programs of reunification of the national territory by road.
With the support of development partners, rehabilitation programs will be started, including the Rehabilitation Support Program, in the acronym PAR, the Multisectoral Emergency, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program, in acronym PMURR.
Following these efforts, five years later, that is to say at the end of 2006, the state of the DRC road network is almost as follows:
For the network of general interest (58.129 Km):
Network in good condition (on which the average speed of journey is equal to or greater than 40 Km / h): 5% (2.610 Km):
Network in the middle state (average speed of travel between 25 and 40 Km / h): 6% (3.590 Km)
Network in poor condition (average speed of course less than 25 km / h): 26% (15.038 km)
Network in undisclosed state: 63% (36.891 Km)
FOR the Local Interest Network (86,821 Km): almost 90% in an unknown state.
From 2006 to 2015, in the framework of the concept of the five construction sites of the Republic, the joint efforts of the Government with its external partners for the improvement of the road infrastructures of the country, whose main actions carried out concerned the modernization, the rehabilitation, the reinforcement, the reopening of earth roads and rural roads, as well as the large-scale maintenance of infrastructure to improve the free movement of people and goods, have led to an encouraging recovery of the state of the general interest road network. , whose situation at the end of December 2015 is as follows:
Network in good condition: 24.3% (14.142 Km);
Network in medium condition: 16,3% (9,483 km);
Network in poor condition: 59, 4% (34.504 Km)
Network in state unknown: 0%
In summary, the network is practicable in all seasons, that is to say. in good and average condition totaled at the end of December 2015 a linear of 23.625 km, 40.6ù of the network of general interest of 58.129 km, while 60% of said network was in poor condition.
This result was achieved thanks to:
On the continuation or start of the rehabilitation of certain roads by international companies in the context of the PRO ROUTES Project financed by the World Bank;
With the revitalization from December 2012, of the program of opening of roads known program of Reunification of the Republic by Road “RRR” which also resorted to the method of High Intensity of Labor “HIMO” on the segments justifying a level of traffic, soil and adequate relief to offer more jobs, lower the cost of work and ensure better ownership of the program and investments by the population;
Road concessions on the Kasumbalesa-Lubumbashi-Likasi-Kolwezi and Kinshasa-Matadi segments justifying average daily traffic between 2,500 and 3,000 passages per day, although less than the required 15,000; and at the beginning of the program of the reorganization of the national road number 1, segments located between Batshamba and Kananga thanks to the donations of the African Development Bank and the European Union.
Unfortunately, as of 2015, the decline in prices of the DRC’s main export products and the global economic crisis lead to a drastic decline in investments in the infrastructure sector.
For example, the 2016 and 2017 finance laws do not provide sufficient funds to face the challenges of the sector. In addition, it should be noted that FONER resources can normally cover only about 36% of rehabilitation needs due to insufficient funding.
To date, the all-weather network is approximately 19,910 km as shown in the table in appendix 1 and in the map given in appendix 2.
Urban roads in the DRC total 8.215 km, mostly located in neighborhoods that have experienced urbanization. Their breakdown by provinces is shown in the table in appendix 3.
To date, the state of said roads is as follows:
Follow the paved roads 1.843,62 Km:
Good condition 641,36 Km, 35%
Middle state 442, 77 Km, 24%
Bad condition 760, 49 km or 41%
For unpaved roads 6.371, 99 Km:
Good condition O km
Middle state 819, 81 km, or 13%
Poor condition 5.552, 18 Km, 87%
In spite of the strong constraints mentioned above, my Ministry has set up a minimum road infrastructure maintenance program to maintain a practicable network essentially on FONER resources and to guarantee the participation of the Government in the various programs co-financed with the partners. development.
It is in these conditions that:
345 Km have been reopened and are maintained on the ultra-priority network under the PRO ROUTES project thanks to co-financing from the World Bank, the UK DFID Cooperation and the DRC (FONER);
730 Km were rehabilitated and asphalted under financing from the African Development Bank and the European Union on RN1;
223 km and 50.4 km respectively of roads and roads as part of the Sino Congolese program;
347 Km asphalted as part of the public-private partnership with road concessions;
11, 94 Km paved in 2X2 strips of roads within the framework of the Cooperation with Japan;
492 Km of covered earth road as part of the project of Reunification of the Republic by Road, in initials RRR;
Several hundred km have been rehabilitated thanks to the support of the Belgian Technical Cooperation, the French Development Agency, the German Cooperation, the Dutch Cooperation, the USAID, the Agencies of the United Nations system? FROM MONUSCO? IFAD, OPEC, BADEA, the Kuwait Fund, and friendly countries such as Norway, Sweden and Italy.
In fact, the Honorable Members, it is currently possible to leave:
From Sakania, in Upper Katanga or Kolwezi, in Lualaba, to Bukavu and Goma by bus via Lubumbashi, Pweto, Kalemeie and Uvira;
From Butembo or Kasindi, in North Kivu, or from Bunia, Ituri, to Bunduki, in Bas Uele, limit with Mongala by bus through Niania, Kisangani, Tshopo and Buta;
From Zongo, South Ubangi and on the CAR border, to Akula Harbor, South Ubangi on the Mongala border, through Gemena and Libenge;
From Moanda, in Kongo Central, to Tshikapa in Kasaï via Kinshasa, Kenge, in Kwango, and Kikwit, in Kwilu;
It goes without saying that the challenges are enormous and the ministry continues to work to develop other forms of public-private partnership for the construction of asphalt roads in our country. It’s the case :
The contract signed with the company AFECC, in March 2017, for the modernization of 1,082 Km of the RN 1 between Kananga, Kasaï Central and Nguba in the Lualaba, via Mbuji-Mayi, in Eastern Kasaï, Mwenne- Ditu in Lomami and Kamina, in Upper Lomami;
Kasomeno -Kasenga-Chalwe road construction project, 92 km long, with GED CONGO;
The N’djili-Kinshasa city-center international airport motorway construction project, the procurement process of which is underway;
The construction project of the South-West-East Perimeter Road in Kinshasa, with a view to achieving the necessary structural roads for the city;
The project of the N’djili-Cecomaf -Mulululu road, that is to say between the city of Kinshasa and the province of Kongo Central.
With our development partners:
Two contracts have just been signed thanks to ADB financing for the asphalting of two sections of RN1: Lovua-Tshikapa Bridge over 57 km and Tshikapa-Kamwesha over 87 km;
Two contracts are being awarded for the asphalting of five roads in Kinshasa, for a total length of 12.7 km, on the financing of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, BADEA in acronym;
With the World Bank, the Government negotiates the project PRO ROUTE 2 which will take care, in addition to the 3,345 Lm reopened and maintained as part of PRO ROUTES, the reopening and maintenance of 2,280 km of road, including RN2 Mbuji-Mayi -Bukavu, RN 6 -RN 24 and RP 336 Bunduki-Lisala-Bumba, Mombanza-Gemena and Mombanza-Gbadolite-Mobayi, RN25 Niani-Isiro, RN3Miti-Hombo-Walikale for an overall budget of USD 457 million.
The European Union will finance the paving of the RN1 on the section Kanwesha-Kananga, 150 km long, for about 150 million Euros.
Honourable Members,
The maintenance of this entire road network requires the mobilisation of resources that go beyond the current financial mobilisation capacity of the National Road Maintenance Fund (FONER). It is here for me the opportunity to solicit from this august Assembly the granting of the consequent credits within the framework of the law of the finances 2018 for the rehabilitation of the road infrastructures, in support of the electoral process and that, in spite of the constraints budget. Because it is well known that securing elections as much as the practicability of the road network is a guarantee for the proper organisation of elections.
Honourable President of the National Assembly,
Honourable Members of the Bureau,
Honourable Members,
With regard to the public buildings sector, as part of the reconstruction of the country, it should be noted that several achievements have been made, including:
In the context of own resources financing:
The construction of the Government building;
The rehabilitation of the 7 buildings of the “le royal” site
The construction of municipal stadiums: Kindu, Matete, Barumbu, Binza-Delvaux and Bandalugwa which is being finalized,
The construction of five technical vocational schools in Uvira, Kalima, Tshikapa, Gungu and Mbandaka;
The pediatric surgery center at the Ngaliema Clinic;
Rehabilitation of buildings and equipment of Universities and Higher Institutes;
Construction of Kindu University and Kalemie University underway;
As part of the financing on the Sino Congolese program:
The construction of the Cinquantenaire Hospital;
The ongoing construction of the Goma, Bunia and Kalemie stadiums;
In the context of cooperation:
The National Institute Pilot of Health Sciences Teaching, in acronym INPESSS, with Japan;
The Lubumbashi General Reference Hospital with the People’s Republic of China;
the new administrative building on the site ex. Tembe na Tembe, with the People’s Republic of China,
the rehabilitation of the Martyrs Stadium with the People’s Republic of China;
the construction of courts and tribunals across provinces with the European Union;
the ongoing construction of the National Museum of Kinshasa with the Republic of Korea;
This list is not exhaustive.
Honourable President,
Honourable Members of the Bureau,
Honourable members,
Regarding the second question relating to the implementation rates of the work undertaken since I was in charge of this ministry, the data relating to them are presented in detail according to the management agencies of the different projects in the tables attached.
It should be pointed out that, taking into account the new territorial division, within the framework of the Revolution of Modernity, my ministry allocates an initial amount of USD500,000 for the rehabilitation of roads in the capitals of each province, in the framework of the road maintenance program, to carry out projects defined in accordance with the priorities set by the provincial executives. These projects are financed by FONER resources.
Honourable Members,
As for the third question, relating to the concentration of the Ministry’s interventions in the city of Kinshasa and in the eastern provinces of the Republic, I would rather like to reassure Hon. MAYAMBA MASSAKA Serge of the national character of the work carried out by my ministry.
Indeed, the Government of the Republic has never intended to favor one corner of the national territory to the detriment of another, and can in no way carry out actions aimed at devoting the abandonment of any given province. the Republic, as you can see from the details provided in the tables.
Such an affirmation can only result from a lack of communication on our part, on the actions in progress, on those already carried out or those to be done in the short, medium and long term.
Following this, we are now committed to better communication.
It is true that the infrastructure needs are immense and that the resources currently available do not allow simultaneous large-scale actions to be carried out on the whole of the national territory, but it is nevertheless true that many actions are carried out. by the Government of the Republic of the Republic with the limited resources available to it, and him for the road sub-sector come mainly from FONER
With particular regard to the western and central areas of our great country, which are supposed to be abandoned, in the words used by the Hon. MAYAMBA MASSAKA Serge, allow me to list the following actions carried out by my ministry:
For the former Province of Ecuador:
There is going on:
The rehabilitation and maintenance of the Zongo- Gemena-Akula Road (385 km) as part of the Pro Routes Project co-financed by the World Bank and the Government of the Republic through the FONER. This project is monitored by the Infrastructure Unit of my Ministry and I personally wanted to visit this road in its entirety;
The maintenance of the road Gemena -Karawa -Mombanza -Gbadolite (300 km) by the Office of Roads as part of the Road Maintenance Program 2017 financed by the FONER, which I personally proceeded to the launch of work in the month September of this year;
Road works and erosion control in the cities of Gemena, Lisala, Boende and Gbadolite executed by the Office of Roads and Drainage as part of the Road Maintenance Program 2017 financed by the FONER.
The rehabilitation and modernization of ITELA Avenue in Mbandaka for USD 4,258,868 as part of the World Bank-financed Urban Development Project;
Scheduling repairs and transporting the former 35-tonne Kisangani ferry to Zongo City as part of PER 2017;
The Akula tank bailout and repair program as part of PER 2017
The provision of a ferry crossing 15T to the city of Bolomba;
The following interventions are planned under PER 2018;
Maintenance of the Akula-Lisala road;
Maintenance of the Mbandaka – Ingende-Bolomba road;
Maintenance of the Mbandaka-Bikoro-Inongo road;
Maintenance of the Kiri-Bikoro road;
Maintenance of the Mbandaka-Boende-Ikela road;
Maintenance of the Ikela-Lomela road;
The continuation of road works in all provincial capitals.
Also planned in 2018, in the context of the PROROUTES, the following interventions;
Continued maintenance of the Zongo-Gemena-Akula road (385Km);
The rehabilitation and maintenance of the Gemena-Karawa-Businga -Mombanza-Gbadolite-Mobayi (300 Km) and Businga- Lisala- Bumba-Bunduki (535 Km)
For Central Kongo Province
The rehabilitation of the road Boma -Matadi (111 Km) and the widening of the section Mpozo Bridge -Rond-point Ex.24 November (5 km) in lza vile of Matadi, the construction of the Boulevard Joseph Kabila in the city of Boma ( 14 km), the construction and paving of the Boma- Moanda – Banana road (114). These actions are carried out under the concession RB1 Kinshasa – Matadi – Boma – Moanda;
The rehabilitation of the Malanga-Luozi road (95 km) and the distribution of the Luozi ferry by the Office des Routes, as part of the PER 2017;
The rehabilitation of the Mbanza-Ngungu-Nkamba road (75 Km) as part of the PER 2017
the acquisition of the Mfidi Bridge (52 ml)
the imminent rehabilitation of the RN16 road (Inkisi-Ngidinga-Kimvula-Lubish) and reconstruction of 4 bridges, including the Mfidi bridge by the Office des Routes under the PER 2017;
the imminent acquisition of the Libongo Bridge
III. For the former province of Bandundu
The construction of the Batshamba-Loange Bridge road (114 km) of which 106 are completed, as part of the cooperation with the European Union;
The construction and paving of the crossing of the town of Idiofa (7km) under the supervision of the ACGT, within the framework of the Sino6Congolais Program;
The rehabilitation of the Ngampoko Bridge and the reopening of the Bolobo-Yumbi road (60 Km);
The planned rehabilitation of the Petit Kasaï-Bulungu (75 km) and Bulungu-Kikwit (80 km) roads as part of the 2017 PRD, the Batshamba-Gungu-Kakobola Dam (70 km);
The planned rehabilitation of the Popokabaka ferry;
The upcoming rehabilitation of the RN16, Bukangalonzo-Popokabaka stretch;
For the former provinces of Kasaï Occidental and Kasaï Oriental
The construction of the RN1, Pont Loange-Pont Lovua section (65km) financed by the African Development Bank;
The signature of the contracts of 120,000,000 USD for the paving of the RN1, sections Lovua6Tshikapa Bridge (57 Km) and Tshikapa-Kamwesha (87km), financed by the ADB;
The signing of a contract for the modernization of the RN1 between Kananga, central Kasai and Nguba in Lualaba, 1,082 km long, with the company AFECC;
The rehabilitation of the Mbuji-mayi-Mwene-Ditu road (16 km out of 138) under the Sino-Congolese Program;
The rehabilitation of the Lubilanji Bridge on the border of the provinces of Lomami and Haut Lomami;
The erosion control work in the cities of Tshikapa and Mbuji-Mayi, including the famous erosion “Mbata wa Tshitolo”;
The financing of urgent rehabilitation works on Kasai Bridge in Tshikapa;
The assignment of a ferry crossing of 15 T for crossing the Lovua River.
Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly,
Honourable Members of the Bureau,
Honourable Members,
As I said in the introduction, I had to report to the Congolese population through the National Representation, so that everyone could be aware of the achievements of my ministry. However, to meet the concerns of the Hon. Mayamba Massaka Serge, I presented the details of the projects according to the management agencies and according to the areas of coverage on the extent of the national territory.
I would like to point out, however, that the concept of road infrastructure is globalizing in the sense that a road connects different poles. The concern should be to obtain the reunification of the national territory by ensuring links between the different chief towns and different poles of economic development through the complementarity of road projects and not isolated and scattered interventions, limited in territories without other outlets.
Once again, I express the wish to see the allocation of substantial budgetary resources to the Infrastructure sector in general, and road transport in particular, in the financial laws of the coming years, in order to reach satisfactory levels in relation to the immense needs of our country.
God bless our country
Long live the Democratic Republic of Congo
