DRC natural resources press review of Monday, May 27, 2013

The "Chinese contracts" totaled five. Many newspapers have echoed the press conference held on the subject by Moses Ekanga, executive secretary of the office of coordination and monitoring of the Sino-Congolese program. Le Phare newspaper, referring to the balance sheet and prospects for these contracts written. "Five years ago, were signed what would appear to mortal eyes as" Chinese Contracts "But ultimately, this will that a cooperation project between Chinese companies and the government of the DRC. Under the combined IMF and World Bank pressure, the financing of these contracts would experience a substantial revision of half from 6-3000000000 dollars U.S.. Meanwhile, the reserves of minerals have also declined sharply, because instead of ten million tons of copper as assessed at the start, they finally passed 6.8 million. "

For its part,  la Prospérité newspaper points out that Moïse Ekanga ruled, because he said:'' We never sold the country to China'' and added: "And then, the Chinese contracts do not exist. By cons, he insisted, there is a cooperation agreement in two parts:.. infrastructure and mining In his view, the Sino-Congolese program is progressing well Basically, Ekanga said that this cooperation agreement provides complimentary perspectives in 2015. The tabloid says that after resizing the Mining Project at the initiative of the DRC, the first tonne of copper produced by Sicomines is expected in 2015 and not, as originally scheduled in 2017. Project Cooperation will then reach its cruising speed in terms of investment and infrastructure, and possibly lead to obtaining a new credit line, according to the results of the mining project. be seen, the performance Perfect Project omen already the most beautiful prospects for the development of infrastructure, improving our mining revenue and beyond, the reconstruction of the DRC and improving the well-being of the population. "

For the newspaper L'Avenir, despite the good faith of the parties in the execution of the collaboration agreement, some difficulties have slowed the pace of implementation of the project. It is the financial crash occurred in 2008 and its adverse effects on the prices of minerals, the long time taken by the relevant Chinese institutions to approve the feasibility study, the long time lag between the first disbursement (January 2009) and the start of production (end of 2015), the delay in the adoption of the law on tax, customs and foreign exchange regime to secure the cooperation project and the energy deficit observed in the project area (Kolwezi).

Despite these difficulties, the daily newspaper thinks, it must be said that since the signing of the Convention and despite the pitfalls, the proposed Sino-Congolese cooperation has already garnered several projects, mainly part of the development of public and community infrastructure. With 118 million loan from Exim Bank, the Congo was able to finance the second phase of infrastructure works such as Boulevard du 30 Juin (lot 2), and Sendwe Triumphal Boulevard, Esplanade Hall of the People, the acquisition a production unit for prefabricated housing component, the acquisition of generators to increase the rate of access to electricity in some capitals of the provinces and the acquisition of solar poles for public lighting in some capitals territories.

 On another note, Radio Okapi reported in Katanga, the soldiers of the Republican Guard (GR) control five mineral deposits in eight mining facilities Mulungwishi, 150 kilometers from Lubumbashi (Katanga). Ll'inspecteur division This mining post Banze Kitoko complained Sunday, May 26. In an interview with Radio Okapi, the division inspector said that the military prevented its services to collect taxes allocated to the State of the products stored in depots under their control.

Radio Okapi reported that even artisanal miners demanded the revision of the Forest Code and indicates that the Congolese artisanal loggers Association (AFCEA), said Thursday, May 23, during a forum it organized in Kinshasa the current Congolese legislation constitutes an obstacle to the promotion of small-scale logging in the country.
 "Although forests represent 60% of all those in the Congo Basin, the annual production of the DRC does not even reach 500,000 m3, while other countries are up to 1.2 million," regretted the President of AFCEA, Jean Wabangawa, the radio reported.