The DRC announces the possibility of Public-Private Partnership to complete Construction Works on Kasumbalesa Dry Port
The Minister of Transport, Ways of Communication and Accessibility, Chérubin Okende, presented the Report on the progress of the work of the Kasumbalesa Dry Port, to the Council of Ministers on Friday, February 4, following the recommendation of the Head of State Felix Tshisekedi.
At this stage, he said, the environmental, geotechnical, financial and economic studies have already been done.
Chérubin Okende evokes the possibility of opening a public-private partnership to help OGEFREM, which does not have enough means, to complete the work of the dry port of Kasambulasa.
“In view of the cost of the project estimated at nearly 129 million US dollars and the limited resources of the Multimodal Freight Management Office (OGEFREM) to finance the project, the Minister of Transport, Ways of Communication and Accessibility said he had concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with a partner who can finance the work”, informs the minutes of the 39th meeting of the Council of Ministers.
OGEFREM ensured the financial coverage of the project by phase and which allowed the construction of the fence on the entire site of 62 hectares and compaction of 20 hectares.
The rest of the work will be supported by the public-private partnership to be concluded, indicates Chérubin Okende.
Note that Kasumbalesa is on the route of the network of roads constituting the “TRANSAFRICAINE”, which will connect Africa from north to south, starting from Cairo, in Egypt, to Capetown, in South Africa.
The construction of the Dry Port of Kasumbalesa is part of the commitments that the Democratic Republic of Congo has made vis-à-vis the SADC, because this project has been included on the list of integration projects of this sub-regional organization.
