DRC: Congolese expertise increasingly proven in environmental studies, says OEMS CEO

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not short of experts in environmental impact studies.

In the past, this area was reserved only for foreigners, but for some time the Congolese have been successfully tackling it.

During a press conference on Monday February 14, 2022, the Office of Environment and Mining Studies (OEMS) research firm supported its argument with supporting examples to demonstrate this proven experience.

For the organizers, this conference should also make it possible to put an end to the gossip that leagues against Congolese expertise in environmental matters.

According to Professor Arthur Kaniki, one of the facilitators of this activity, the Democratic Republic of Congo does indeed have the environmental and technical expertise to deal with issues related to this sector.

“It has been demonstrated that there is indeed proven and available expertise in the DRC and this expertise has gone through all the stages of evolution, in particular growth and maturation. We have had moments of trial and error before, but at the moment the number of experts in the different fields shows a complete picture ,” he said.

According to Ramazani, CEO of the firm OEMS, it should be noted that provisions tend to protect the environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2002 with the advent of the mining code.

Thanks to the Mining Code, Congolese legislation required that each mining project be associated with an environmental study.
Unfortunately, this period was more dominated by foreign expertise on the subject.

According to this expert, these foreigners who arrived in the DRC, with difficult access conditions in the mining areas, had gradually begun to train Congolese on this issue. This has, according to him, given the taste to several Congolese to specialize in this issue.

Kipay’s Sombwe project, a perfect illustration of Congolese expertise

To support this veracity of Congolese expertise, the Kipay Energie & Investments project is an illustration of a concrete case of the application of local expertise, particularly with the Sombwe hydroelectric dam project whose environmental impact study has was carried out by the study firm made up of Congolese experts, namely OEMS.

For the Kipay project in question here, it has been shown that this study has gone through all the stages and has been approved by the competent Congolese authorities, no offense to the gossips who distill false information about the firm that is doing correctly his work, underlined the CEO of OEMS.

What to know about OEMS

The Environmental Engineering Office Office of Environmental and Mining Studies (OEMS) is an Environmental Studies Office approved by the Ministry of Mines, in accordance with article 424 of the Mining Regulations and by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation of the Nature and Sustainable Development, pursuant to Ministerial Order No. 80/CAB/MIN/ECNDD/01/00/RBM/2016 of October 18, 2016 approving a consulting firm specializing in the environmental and social assessment of projects .

This firm is organized in the form of a limited liability company according to the harmonized statutes of September 6, 2014, its number in the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register is CD/KIN/RCCM/14-B-4022, its Identification Number National is 01-83-N58275.

Its head office is located at number 203, Avenue Kwango in the Commune of Gombe in the city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This firm has proven expertise in the management of the environmental aspects of various sectors of Mining, Hydrocarbons, Public Works, Energy, etc.