The French Development Agency (AFD) and the Agency for the Development and Promotion of the Grand Inga Project (ADPI) signed a memorandum of understanding in Kinshasa on Feb. 2, 2026. According to Éléonore Caroit, France’s minister for Francophonie, international partnerships and French nationals abroad, the agreement aims to prepare the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to host the Inga III hydroelectric project.

The preparation is built around four pillars: vocational training and higher education to place young people at the center of the project; agriculture to support inclusive growth and sustainable food security; strengthening institutional capacity to ensure transparent and effective governance; and spatial planning to support balanced territorial development.

“At this stage, France will invest in preparing the project, particularly through the training of engineers and skilled operators who will be able to carry it forward,” Caroit told France 24, without giving a figure. She added that she hoped French companies would bid for contracts when construction of the hydroelectric plant begins.

Inga III is a large-scale project expected to deliver several thousand megawatts of installed capacity. It will require investment of more than $10 billion and is likely to take more than a decade to complete. Given its scale, the World Bank says it is necessary to prepare both the project itself and the country that will host it.

Inga III development program at the core

To that end, an Inga III Development Program (PDI 3) has been launched and is expected to run for several years. The program focuses on training a local workforce and equipping areas affected by the project with infrastructure and productive capacity, particularly in agriculture. It also includes technical, social, environmental, financial and legal studies, as well as project structuring and the development of financing, legal and governance frameworks needed to reach financial close.

The World Bank plans to allocate $1 billion to PDI 3 over 10 years, in four tranches of $250 million. The first tranche was approved last June. The memorandum of understanding signed with the AFD aligns with this approach.

Speaking at the Makutano forum in November 2025, ADPI Director General Bob Mabiala Mvumbi said the agency was preparing to rehabilitate several technical schools along the corridor between the Atlantic coast and Kinshasa to train future workers for the project. He added that the National Institute for Professional Preparation (INPP) had been mobilized for the same purpose and that specialized laboratories, particularly in hydraulics, would be equipped within engineering faculties.

Mvumbi also said that scholarships would be awarded, in partnership with the AFD, to students in technical fields linked to the project. Some are expected to be deployed on site from this year to take part in preliminary work and gain hands-on experience, ahead of geological and geotechnical studies scheduled to begin in the third quarter.

Boaz Kabeya & Timothée Manoke