Congolese human right NGO, L’Association Congolaise pour l’accès à la justice, is calling on the government to investigate and provide clarity on the USD555 million loan it will be repaying Chinese development bank, Exim Bank.
The money is said to have been loaned to government for the construction of new airport terminals in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi
Last week Transport and Air Communication Minister Didier Mazenga told parliament that, the country will be using 90% of revenue it collects from the GO PASS airport levy to repay the loan, from 2021 to 2023.
However the NGO has raised doubts on whether such loan exists in the first place, there seems to be no evidence or documents which indicates that the Congelese government and Exim Bank had signed the loan agreement. Neither has any official from Exim Bank confirmed that the institution gave the Congelese state USD555 million.
Some Congolese officials working at the Airport Company, Regie des Voies Aeriennes (RVA), have also denied having knowledge of such loan.
Therefore, the NGO believes that they could be an attempt to steal money from the state, and have called for transparency.
The construction of a new Kinshasa International Airport was launched in 2018 by former President Joseph Kabila; according to then Transport Minister, Jose Makila, the project was going to be finance 85% by Exim Bank and 15% by the Congolese government, and would last 36 months.
However three years later not a single structure has been built; the government had disbursed USD20 million for the construction to commence, but the company , WIETC, charged with the project had to stop work because it ran out of funds .
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