DR Congo’s state-owned airport authority, Régie des Voies Aériennes (RVA), plans to automate the collection of the Infrastructure Development Fund (Idef), commonly known as the Go-Pass after the payment system used in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The plan is outlined in an international call for tenders issued by the RVA on Sept. 23, 2025.
According to the tender document, the company intends to acquire machines, equipment and software to digitize the collection of the fee. Companies were invited to submit bids by Nov. 25, 2025. At this stage, the outcome of the tender is not known. A similar process was launched in June, but no information has been made public on its outcome.
The initiative comes amid recurring criticism over the collection and management of these revenues. In a report published in 2021, the Congo Research Group (CRG) said it was impossible to accurately track all revenue generated by the fee.
The report noted that travellers receive paper coupons upon payment, a system that has enabled parallel networks to emerge, led to the circulation of booklets bearing identical serial numbers, and resulted in weak controls. The GEC also said RVA executives deliberately avoided bank reconciliation to conceal funds.
These findings echo those of a 2012 report by the Court of Auditors on the recovery and use of the fee, which already pointed to obsolete airport infrastructure and governance weaknesses surrounding the Idef.
Created on March 19, 2009, to finance airport modernization and equipment purchases, the fee is set at $50 for passengers on international flights and $10 for domestic flights. For freight, the rate ranges from $0.005 to $0.070 depending on the type of traffic and the direction of the goods.
During hearings at the National Assembly in May 2025, the RVA’s director general, Léonard Ngoma Mbaki, who is currently suspended, said the Idef had generated about $363 million between its creation in 2009 and Dec. 31, 2024.
He said the funds are used as guarantees for loans contracted by the company and as counterpart funding for projects financed by the African Development Bank, including the Priority Air Safety Project in the DRC (PPSA 1 and 2).
Ngoma added that the revenue is also used to finance infrastructure work that is often invisible to passengers but essential to civil aviation operations, such as fire stations, power plants and erosion control at the country’s airports. He was responding to concerns raised by lawmakers and users, who regularly question the tangible impact of the fee.
Timothée Manoke
