Kinshasa, April 9th, 2025 (CPA) – Some communes in the east and west of Kinshasa deprived of drinking water in the Democratic Republic of Congo were supplied with this commodity on Wednesday, announced the Managing Director of the Drinking Water Supply, at a press briefing he gave on Tuesday at the company’s premises. ‘As far as the western part of the city of Kinshasa is concerned, as we speak, our two machines, which have a number of faults, have been taken to Limete and are already at the central workshop to try and reassemble them a little and fit the bearing. So this Wednesday, we have arranged for raw trucks to bring these machines to our plant in Lukaya. If all goes well, we hope so, because we’ll be working through the night. We even believe that, from the early hours or tomorrow morning, some subscribers in the eastern and western parts of the city, notably Cité verte, Mont Ngafula and Maman Mobutu, will be able to get water from their taps’, said David Tshilumba, Managing Director of Regideso.
‘To our subscribers in the eastern part of the capital, it’s not as soon as we pump the water that it arrives at the house, it takes time to fill the network. As we don’t have the full capacity back in service, it takes a little longer to fill the network and the reservoir. It usually takes 7 to 8 hours for the water to reach the end of the network so that everyone at home can receive water, and this will be done gradually,’ he added. The Managing Director of the water distribution authority said that for Mitendi, it was a slightly different case from the factories because in this part of the capital, we collect spring water. The spring was completely covered because of the landslide following the torrential rain. We spent a long time recovering the spring, and the work is continuing, as a partial diversion is needed to restore service as quickly as possible.
Regideso guarantees quality water for the population
Regideso’s Managing Director, David Tshilumba, also promised to provide the population without water with quality water to prevent water-related illnesses. ‘We guarantee that we will give you quality water. We’re going to make sure we use the right dosage of disinfectants to prevent people from contracting other water-related illnesses’. He also pointed out that 8 tanker lorries have been put into circulation in the eastern and western parts of Kinshasa to serve people without access to drinking water.
‘We have given priority to the sites where disaster victims have been accommodated, in particular Tata Raphaël and the Martyrs stadium, to reassure us that those on these sites will never lack water. Even if we have to make rounds 24/24, we will do so so that they have water permanently in the sites,’ he said.
Regideso, he added, has received support from the government, but we are waiting for a little more, because what we have received is moderate. ‘The government has treated this issue as an emergency, and there has certainly been a lot of communication along these lines, because Regideso itself has not been spared. Several Regideso authorities took part in the press conference, including the Chairman of the Board of Directors (PCA) Alphonse Kisolokele and many others.