Democratic Republic of Congo - National Road No.1 Rehabilitation Project: Kinshasa/Ndjili – Batshamba Section

The project will focus on rehabilitating the Kinshasa/Ndjili-Kenge-KikwitBatshamba road section, which covers 622 km. It links Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to Mai Ndombe, Kwango, Kwilu and Kassaï provinces. The Kinshasa-Batshamba link, including the 72.80-km Kwango-Kenge section financed by the Bank, is currently an enormously difficult stretch to travel due to the degradation of the roadway and many erosion areas that could cause the road to collapse. This degradation is partly due to the poor choice of the base course (cement base on the sandy loam soil of Batéké Plateaux). The Kinshasa/Ndjili-Kenge-Kikwit-Batshamba road section (622 km), which is the focus of this project, is part of the National Road No. 1 (RN1) from Moanda to Kasumbalesa. The RN1 is the backbone and main transformative highway of the road transport system in DRC. It connects Banana and Matadi ports to major cities in the west of the country, particularly Lubumbashi in the south, to the Zambian border, over about 3,130 km. Given the importance of this road for the country's economic and social development and the access it provides to the interior, as well as its key role in intra-regional trade, the Government has devoted most funding from donors involved in the transport sector to its gradual rehabilitation. The project route follows the existing road and covers land with very variable relief. The project will improve the service level of the RN1 and access to Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as to Kwango, Kwilu and Kasai Provinces. It will also help improve food security, increase the availability of agricultural products, reduce travel time, and build the capacity of support services, vocational training and social reintegration structures, and grassroots communities. The total project cost, excluding customs duties and taxes, is estimated at UA 50.57 million. The project will be financed entirely by the Bank through a loan from its ADF window.