Verdensbanken og Kina vil sætte skub i togene i et land, hvor de fleste spor blev lagt for et århundrede siden og skaffe penge til ansatte uden løn i årevis
A 600 million US dollar (3 mia. DKR) project to revamp the DR Congo’s decrepit (nedslidte) railway network within four years has been launched in the capital, Kinshasa, BBC online writes Thursday.
The World Bank and China are the principal backers of the scheme. The aim is to restore services to provinces where rail is the only connection to the rest of the world in the absence of roads or rivers.
The 3.000 km colonial-era rail network has had little maintenance after years of misrule and conflict. About 700 km of track will have to be repaired or replaced and dozens of new locomotives and wagons purchased.
Equipment is only part of the bill: DR Congo’s national railway company SNCC is also mired (kørt fast) in financial problems. It has some 12.000 employees who have not been paid for more than four (4!) years.
Under the plan, by the end of June 2.200 employees – many of whom are long past retirement age – will be given the option to retire after the company finally pays their salaries and pension contributions.
Pierre Pozzo di Borgo, the World Bank’s African transport specialist, says a working train system will open up the centre of the country and allow it to develop.
– In the province of Maniema, the price of a bag of cement is roughly 35 dollar. It is less than 10 in Kinshasa, he said at the launch. – If the train stops working, it goes through the roof. If the train starts being reliable, the price drops by two-thirds, noted he.
But Mr Pozzo di Borgo warned that putting SNCC back afloat for good will take 20 years and cost 1,5 billion dollar.
The World Bank, which is putting 218,8 million dollar towards the project, is hoping for investment from international mining companies operating in southern copper-rich Katanga region, which mainly ship their produce out by road through countries to the south.
China’s 200 million contribution will be drawn from the “minerals-for-infrastructure” deal signed between Beijing and Kinshasa in 2009.
The remaining money for the 600 million project will come from the Congolese government, and will include tax breaks for Vecturis, the Belgian company tasked with sorting out the management of SNCC.
There are no roads across this country the size of Western Europe. For those who cannot afford to fly, river transport is the only option but safety regulations are routinely flouted (tilsidesat) and accidents claiming more than 100 lives are fairly common, BBC notes
