One week after the signing by the government of the DRC of the fifth amendment to the Sino-Congolese collaboration in the field of mining and infrastructure construction, the President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi, during a meeting on Thursday at the African Union city, issued instructions to the officials of the National Agency responsible for the steering and monitoring of agreements signed between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and private partners (APCSC) regarding the priority roads to be constructed as part of the Sino-Congolese program, announces the Presidency.

The Director-General of the APCSC, Mr. Freddy Yodi, stated: "We came to receive the instructions of the President of the Democratic Republic regarding priorities, which we will translate into the program.

The Head of State insists that the Sino-Congolese program should primarily focus on the construction of national roads.

Moreover, he emphasized: "Within the framework of the Sino-Congolese program, President Félix Tshisekedi has directed us to plan, for example, the construction of a Bypass route around Kinshasa, from the Mbudi neighborhood to the commune of N'djili, the construction of the RN1, in its section between Mbuji-Mayi and Nguba, as well as the Kalamba Mbuji road, considered useful for the development of the central part of the Republic."

Mr. Freddy Yodi announced that several other infrastructure projects are already planned by his agency's general program outside the Sino-Congolese agreement, aiming to improve the social conditions of the populations.

He mentioned: "Within the framework of the APSC's broad and general program, there is planned, the construction of national roads, projects for the provision of electricity, the project for acquiring a Communications satellite".

These instructions from the President of the Republic come in the wake of the signing, one week ago, of the fifth amendment to the Sino-Congolese collaboration on mining exploitation and infrastructure construction. A budget of approximately 7 billion over five years has been allocated for the construction of more than 5000 km of roads across the national territory. The fifth amendment to the Sino-Congolese collaboration in the field of mining and infrastructure construction aims to make available to the DRC an amount of 7 billion USD for the construction of more than 5000 km of roads on the Congolese territory, it is recalled.

Boni Tsala