On Wednesday 27 May 2020, the Minister of Transport and Air Communication Didier Mazenga, told the Senate that the delay on the construction work of the new Kinshasa international airport (also known as N'djili Airport) was due to the coronavirus pandemic. The minister, in a written response, also said that 80% on the feasibility, technical and topographic studies was already completed.
He was replying to a question posed by Senator Jose Makila, who was transport minister at the time the construction work for the airport was launched. Makila wanted to find out how far the work had progressed, since government had disbursed $20 million for the construction when he was minister.
But a statement issued a while back by Wietc, the Chinese company contracted to build the airport, paints a different picture.
While Wietc acknowledged that it had received $20 million from the Central Bank of Congo and had started with preliminary works, the company was forced to stop after running out of funds. It added that neither the Congolese government nor an external source was able to provide further funding.
When construction work was launched in 2018, by former President Joseph Kabila, minister Jose Makila had told the public that the project would cost $354 680 000; the Congolese government was going to disburse 15% of the money while China's Exim bank will finance the remaining 85%.
However when approached, a senior official at Exim Bank denied that the financial institution had agreed to finance the project; and the Congolese government has been unable to provide any statement or proof to dispute the claim
Minister Didier Mazenga will return to the Senate house on Tuesday 2 June 2020, to provide more clarity
No comments:
Post a Comment