Establishment of the electric battery manufacturing plant, the wishes of the people of Tanganyika and Haut-Lomami submitted to Julien Paluku

The execution of the major project of the electric battery industry which will create more wealth and jobs in the Democratic Republic of Congo was Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at the center of exchanges between the national deputies of the provinces of Tanganyika and Haut-Lomami (provinces which abound in lithium and other minerals) and Julien Paluku, Minister of Industry in his office.

These elected officials wanted to soak up reliable information on the installation process of the manufacturing plant for the precursors of electric batteries and to reassure themselves that no province is excluded from this major integrative project. According to them, the grievances or needs of the populations of these provinces must be taken into account in this project.

“We have come to see the Minister to bring him the message of our populations regarding the actual installation of this electric battery manufacturing plant for which the first stone was laid in Sakania (Haut-Katanga) and we have just passed review the situation with the minister who gave us his point of view let us say the government’s point of view on this project and we also presented our concerns, the concerns of our people. Today, we are going to assure you that everything happening around Lithium, our populations, starting with their elected officials, have not been invited to anything and it is today that we are informed of everything that is happening”, said, on behalf of the group, the deputy national Odette Mwamba Banza at the end of the audience with Julien Paluku.

And to add:

“Never mind, we still presented our concerns, which for us, we think that in order to be able to open up, to be able to balance our corners economically, this factory must be installed in one of the northern provinces, it is true that there is a project to create economic zones, we do not disagree. We can have as many in other provinces but for Lithium we think it is in the North, that is Tanganyika where the Upper Lomami that this factory for the manufacture of electric batteries is to be built”. 

For these elected officials, everything that is done without the involvement of the populations concerned is done against them. 

“You know, there was a colleague who said it. An expression of Gandhi that says if you do something for me without me, you do it against me and we think that everything that has been done until then without however associating the population of the north is made against this population. And it is time to be able to correct this, “said the elected representative of the electoral district of Kabongo in the province of Haut Lomami.

And to continue:

“We have spoken, he cannot give us an answer straight away, he is a member of a team and he will also discuss with his hierarchy to be able to give us a follow-up that we expect and which is not contrary to our expectations. He will invite us to a meeting shortly so that we can harmonize our points of view, we tell our people to be able to calm down, they have not done a vain job to be able to elect us as their representatives, we take the problem to heart and we’re going to do everything to get it back.” 

In turn, Julien Paluku promised to inform the government of his grievances in the implementation of this project.

Recall, the main objective of RDC-Afrique Business Forum 2021 held in Kinshasa on “Developing a regional value chain around the electric battery industry, and a market for electric vehicles and clean energies” was to bring together parties high-level stakeholders to engage, identify opportunities and facilitate investments to increase Africa’s share in the battery, electric vehicle and renewable energy value chain.

The global transition to green energy and rapid decarbonization offers significant opportunities for Africa. It has spurred demand for electric vehicles and investment in battery-powered storage systems, which is driving the deployment of solar and wind power in particular. Thanks to its endowment in natural resources, and in particular in strategic minerals that go into the composition of lithium-ion batteries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo wants to play a key role in the global energy transition in terms of energy storage and mobility. electric.