According to this statement, this funding aims to open up important agricultural and mining areas in a country almost as vast as Mali and Niger combined. It also aims at ensuring the junction with neighboring Rwanda and Burundi.

In this context 236, 59 km of road sections have been fully asphalted and 133 km under construction, the statement revealed. "Since 2013, large machines have been mobilized for rehabilitation or construction work, particularly on the sections leading from Loange to Pont Lovua (63 km), from Pont Lovua to Tshikapa (56 km with a 160 meter linear bridge thrown on the Kasai River) and from Tshikapa to Kamuesha (87 km), " still the statement revealed.

The rehabilitation of these three sections of the National nuber 1, 3,130 km long- the contribution of the African Development Bank amounts to US 226.7 million dollars.

The obtained results


The development of three key segments mentioned above contributed to the opening up of the province of Kasaï by connecting it to the city of Kinshasa province via Kwuilu province.

It also shortened the travel time of transport vehicles in the eight-hour zone in 2013 to one hour in 2018, a significant gain of seven hours, not to mention 2,000 jobs, of which 20% were occupied by women, were created between 2013 and 2018.

The rehabilitation of the Tshikapa-Kamuesha section under construction, will now allow the crossing of the city of Tshikapa, localities such as Kakumba and Kamuesha.

The works will also allow the rehabilitation of 418 km of agricultural feeder roads and basic marketing infrastructure as well as the drilling of water boreholes with the development of standpipes and the rehabilitation of schools in the area of influence of the project where lives population estimated of 1.7 million, mostly women.

One of the objectives of the project is to stop the mass exodus of young people to mining for the benefit of agricultural activities in their places of origin, the statement said.

A permanent commitment


The ambition of the African Development Bank is to support the total rehabilitation of National Road number 1. As if to show its determination, it will sign a financing agreement between June and July 2019 with the Democratic Republic of Congo...

(CKS/Yes)