Key highlights:

• Move unblocks long-delayed projects, including airports, stadiums and roads.
• Companies urged to open BGFI accounts before work starts.

BGFIBank RDC will serve as the guarantor for Congolese companies contracted under the Sino-Congolese infrastructure program. The latter has been delayed for over a year. The news was disclosed on August 21, during a meeting between the Agence de pilotage, de coordination et de suivi des conventions de collaboration (APCSC) and the contractors. 

The contractors, seven local firms, signed in June 2024. Since then, the work has not begun, due to the absence of advance guarantees demanded by Société d’infrastructures sino-congolaise (SISC SA), which oversees projects financed by Sino-Congolaise des Mines (Sicomines).

All contracts are worth $150 million. They stem from the fifth amendment of March 2024, under which Sicomines committed to pay $324 million annually for Congolese infrastructure until 2040, as long as copper prices stay above $8,000 per tonne.

Jean-Benoît Adimashi Okito, Managing Director of Adi Construct and spokesman for the subcontractors, welcomed BGFI’s intervention: “We want to take advantage of the short dry season to get things moving,” he said.

To operationalize the guarantees, the companies have been invited to open accounts with BGFI Bank. Forms have been distributed, though the bank has not yet disclosed its conditions. The step follows a July 23 meeting that examined financing obstacles, work start-ups and performance expectations.

The beneficiary companies — including Adi Construct, Horizon Corporation, Hawa Limited, 2K Service, Mirage Construct, Mont Gabaon and Léopards Construct — are tasked with projects across the country. These range from university buildings and stadiums in Mbandaka, Kananga and Bunia, to the modernization of airports in Tshikapa and Lodja, and the rehabilitation of major roads such as the RN25 in Haut-Uele.

The Sino-Congolese program, first signed in 2008 and often called the “contract of the century,” is built on a resource-for-infrastructure model: mining concessions exchanged for public works. APCSC oversees the deal’s implementation, while the Agence congolaise des grands travaux (ACGT) monitors quality and compliance on sites.

Ronsard Luabeya