The assessment of transport sector reforms in DRC presented to the Senate

Kinshasa, October 19^th,2026 (CPA). – The assessment of reforms carried out in the transport sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been presented to the Senate on Monday in response to a topical question addressed to the sectoral Deputy Prime Minister regarding road, air and river safety, according to a press release received by CPA. “I have instructed the General Secretary for Transport, Communications and Accessibility to ban the navigation of wooden whaling boats on the river and its tributaries, watercourses and lakes with effect from November 15^th, 2026,” Jean-Pierre Bemba has declared, as quoted in the document. According to the source, in response to the increasing number of incidents on waterways, and to strengthen monitoring in this regard, the installation of GPS trackers is now mandatory on board all vessels, linked to a monitoring centre in Kinshasa. To tackle the lack of navigation marks and safety measures, the Deputy Prime Minister Bemba has announced a new navigation marking campaign, which was officially launched on August 25^th, 2026, covering 605 km on the Kasai River and 1,734 km on the Congo River.  Regarding the crash that occurred on September 25th, 2026, in Kenge, which caused the deaths of 17 people, the Deputy Prime Minister has reiterated the provisional suspension of Tracep Congo Aviation’s Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC). He has specified: “At this stage, it would be premature and contrary to the principles of a serious technical investigation to announce a definitive cause of the crash.” In terms of aviation infrastructure, the government is pressing ahead with its modernisation projects, notably at N’djili International Airport, where the new 48,000 m² terminal is due to be completed in March 2028, and at Lubumbashi Luano, in Haut-Katanga in the south-east of the country, scheduled for the first quarter of 2027. Jean-Pierre Bemba has also welcomed the relaunching of the national airline Air Congo, which has operated its first direct flight from Kinshasa to Brussels on July 1^st, 2026.  With regard to land transport, Mr Bemba has highlighted the adoption of the National Road Safety Plan (PNSR) and the reintroduction of biometric chip-enabled driving licences since late 2024. He has also mentioned the implementation of the +METROKIN+ project to ease congestion in the capital, for which the interface contracts have been signed on October 8^th, 2026, ahead of the start of works scheduled for December 2026.  On the subject of the Maritime Freight Management Office (Ogefrem), the launching of the ‘SYGREM’ digital platform on September 1^st, 2026, aims to “eradicate fraud, maximise revenue and ensure better traceability of Congolese freight, both for imports and exports”. The Deputy Prime Minister has concluded his speech by calling for a synergy of actions and massive investment through public-private partnerships to provide DRC with an efficient and secure multimodal network.