... 3 to 4 billion American dollars in Foreign
Direct Investment, more than 9,000 jobs during the construction phase, millions
of dollars in taxes revenues, an extra 2 500MW of electricity generated for the
country...Once again the DRC has missed an incredible business opportunity to
transform its economic landscape.
Bhp project was a World Class 880 000 tones
aluminium smelter. The aluminium industry is energy intensive and this project
required approximately 2,000 MW, almost three times the current production of
Inga I & II. Therefore, the
construction of INGA III, with an estimated capacity of USD 4,500 MW, would
have stopped to be a dream for the Congolese people. Indeed, we keep on hearing
since our childhood how great our hydro electric power potential is amazing but
in reality less than 10% of the Congolese have access to electricity according
the minister of energy itself!
The question is: Why a country would let the
world largest mining company cancel a project of this magnitude? I wish I had
the answer but one thing is sure; the
DRC has demonstrated once again why it is so badly ranked years after years in
the World Bank Doing Business report.
The vision for this country should also be
questioned. I am hearing here and there (I am back in Kinshasa by the way) that
Bhp leaving the country is not a big deal because Westcor will carry on with
the project! I argue that Bhp project was by far a more profitable project for
the DRC because it would have created new jobs here as well as increase the
confidence the investors have in this country. Indeed, if Bhp had completed
this project, investors’ confidence in the DRC authorities to protect foreign
companies’ investments would have surged significantly. I am hearing that it would have help with the
regional integration and my answer is: do you really think the other 4
countries in the Westcor consortium have waited for us to develop their own
capabilities??? The Republic of Congo (our neighbour) is about to finish its
new power station and may be soon exporting some of its energy to the DRC!!?!?
During the LONG 6 years of negotiations things
have changed in the rest of the world (oh yes, we, Congolese, tend to think
that the rest of the world is waiting for us and dream to invest in our
beautiful country no matter the business climate). China has significantly
increased its aluminium capacity production and Bhp project in the DRC is not as
interesting as it used to be few years ago...
This is a bad news for our country! One more...
