The port of Ilebo, located in the Kasaï province, is active again. On April 30, the port’s operations coordinator, Willy Mizumu, announced the arrival of its first ship carrying 1,000 tonnes of cement.

The port was rehabilitated after being devastated last July by a fire. Rehabilitation works included relaunching the port’s thermal power plant and installing a giant collector to stop erosion.

Rail traffic between Kananga and Ilebo, interrupted for months due to track erosion, resumed in February after the SNCC moved rails in critical areas to bypass damaged zones.

Risks remain, especially track erosion between Tshilubulu and Bena Leka, threatening connectivity between Kasaï and Kasaï-Central.

The port, a vital supply chain link for central DRC, had been paralyzed by the loss of river links with Kinshasa and halted industrial shipments, making operations economically unviable.

Managed by SNCC, Ilebo is one of the country’s main inland ports and part of a multimodal project supported by NEPAD-IPPF and the African Development Bank. The project aims to connect Central and Southern Africa with a rail bridge between Brazzaville and Kinshasa, a link to the Kinshasa-Ilebo railroad, a road, and a single border post.

Ronsard Luabeya (intern)