Environment: Launching in June of ecological development work on Ngaliema Bay (Council of Ministers)

Kinshasa, June 1^st, 2025 (CPA).- The Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has announced the launching of ecological and tourism development work in Ngaliema Bay on June 5th, on the occasion of the World Environment Day, according to the minutes of the 45th Council of Ministers meeting, consulted on Saturday. ‘The Ministry in charge of the Environment, in partnership with the company Utex Africa through its ‘ASBL Bilembo’ are planning a series of developments of natural green spaces, particularly those in Ngaliema Bay, for the tourist destination, where work on leisure and recreational facilities for the well-being of the population, which lacks green spaces, is underway and is scheduled to be launched on June 5^th in Ngaliema Bay on World Environment Day,’ it is read. The Minister in charge of the Environment has remembered that in 2017, a contract had been signed between the Congolese government and the company Utex-africa for the development, maintenance, cleaning and preservation of fauna and flora, as well as the development of urban agriculture and market gardening in this area during low water periods in order to safeguard the Ngaliema Bay ecosystem. ‘The greening of urban areas is one of the measures most regularly promoted to mitigate the effects of climate change, particularly to combat the worsening urban heat island phenomenon, but also to create recreational parks and tourist attractions,’ has hammered the Minister in charge of the Environment, quoted in the report. Ngaliema Bay is located on the left bank of the Congo River, northwest of the city of Kinshasa, in the municipality of Kintambo, with a view of Ngaliema Bay and Gombe. It is here that Henry Morton Stanley choses to establish a trading post in 1879, which enabled him to explore the entire Congo Basin. The bay served as the city’s first port, and its shores were home to the first European settlements during the colonial era. The bay owes its name to a local tribal chief, Ngaliema Insi, with whom Stanley negotiated. ACP/