KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• 12-year dormancy ends as $7.5M Chinese-funded polystyrene panel factory in Kisangani prepares restart with new equipment
• Four-factory network planned nationwide to tackle housing crisis and build schools, health centers, security facilities
• Localization drive targets import reduction through domestic prefabricated materials industry for social infrastructure

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is preparing to restart domestic production of polystyrene panels for prefabricated housing after a 12-year dormancy. Infrastructure Minister John Banza Lunda recently announced this while visiting a prefabricated panels factory in Kisangani.

The $7.5 million factory, installed in 2013 through the Sino-Congolese Sicomines program and managed by the Congolese Agency for Major Works (ACGT), has been inactive since its construction. However, plant manager Patrick Muyeye confirmed that containers of additional equipment to boost production capacity have arrived in Kinshasa and await shipment to Kisangani for the facility's effective startup.

Already, 16 Congolese technicians have been trained to operate the plant as part of preparations for the relaunch. According to the Infrastructure Ministry, the Kisangani facility represents just the beginning of a broader national strategy—four similar factories will be established across the country to address the housing shortage while supporting construction of schools, health centers, and training facilities for police and military forces.

The initiative reflects the DRC's push to reduce import dependence and develop a domestic prefabricated materials industry serving both social and security sectors. Plans are also underway to establish a manufacturing plant for inputs currently imported, further localizing the production chain.

Timothée Manoke