During a working visit to Brazzaville, a Chadian delegation of Parliamentarians led by the chairman of the finance committee of the Chadian National Assembly, MP Adeli Edji on August 7, 2019 held a meeting with the Minister of Development, Territorial Equipment and Public Works, Jean Jacques Bouya. This meeting was preceded on August 5, by a presentation by the technical coordinator of public works, Oscar Otoka, on the realization of public works related to municipalization and non-municipalization.

At the end of their mission which dwelled mainly on the execution procedures of public works, Chadian parliamentarians had to meet the Minister in charge of these issues, Minister Jean Jacques Bouya, in order to brief him on the conclusion of their mission in Congo.

The head of the delegation congratulated the Congolese government, which, under the leadership of the President of the Republic, has made enormous progress in the area of ​​infrastructure construction in all sectors.

Adeli Edji presented his encouragement to him before expressing his wish to continue this sharing of experience, not only between the Congolese and Chadian legislative bodies, but also between the executive powers of the two States.

For his part, the Minister of Development, Territorial Equipment and Public Works, Jean Jacques Bouya, told him the history of the vision of the Head of State regarding public works which started during a very critical period within which Congo emerged from socio- political troubles.

“Had it not been for the oil boom and ingenuity of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Congo would never have known this progress and exploited it in the achievement of socio-economic and far-reaching infrastructure. Because it was necessary to rebuild everything, on the one hand and to commit to providing the country with a number of high-quality infrastructures, like the heavy national road N ° 1 (Pointe-Noire-Brazzaville) which is one of the examples of efforts made in this regard. The problem that arises in view of the sustainability of these achievements is at the center of debate in State institutions. Should we concede these works the public-private partnership mode? This is the crux of the matter,” Minister Jean Jacques Bouya pointed out.    

This meeting was preceded by a presentation of public works achievements in Congo.

IN line with objectives of the Chadian mission in Congo, accompanied by the Honorable Maurice Mavoungou, chairman of the economy committee and finance at the Congolese National Assembly, members of this delegation were briefed on infrastructure projects executed by the Congolese government, in accordance with the vision of the President of the Republic, Denis Sassou Nguesso, enacted in his social programs in the past thirteen years.

At the start of his presentation, the technical coordinator did not fail to locate and circumscribe the context in which the General Delegation for Public Works and its prerogatives was created.

In fact, from the inception of the General Delegation of Public Works in 2003 till date, there has been a meteoric rise in the infrastructure universe whose achievements in several ways have deeply impacted the lives of citizens. These include, among others, transport infrastructure; infrastructure related to accelerated municipalization; hydroelectric energy infrastructure, treatment and supply of drinking water; telecommunications infrastructure; sports infrastructure and their access roads; health infrastructure; high-quality engineering structures; buildings and low-cost housing and many others.

From 2003 till now, Congo has acquired 1792 Km of new tarred roads in the country side, bringing the total length to 3118km as against 1200km of completely degraded roads in 2005, with about 420Km of roads rehabilitated. Big urban centers and departmental headquarters equally benefited from a network of tarred roads amounting to a total length of about 625 Km.

In this chapter of roads, a 605-meter cable-stayed bridge with 120-height pylons with guy lines lighting on the Brazzaville ledge was built.

As for airport infrastructure, eight (8) new airport platforms were built under the supervision of the General Delegation for Public Works, bringing the total number to eleven (11) including three airports (Pointe-Noire, Ouesso and Impfondo) have been completely rehabilitated and brought up to standard. Among these airports, there are three (3) of international standard, including Pointe-Noire, Brazzaville and Ollombo.

As for sea port infrastructure, Congo presently has seven major ports, including the Pointe-Noire maritime and autonomous port, the biggest deep-sea port in the country which has experienced expansion.

As part of the rotating celebration of the National Independence Day, the President of the Republic implemented a government program of accelerated municipalization in the country's departments. This program was very beneficial for improving the living conditions of the populations in the twelve (12) departments of Congo. The latter made it possible to provide the entire territory with basic socio-economic infrastructure.

Today, the entire territory is served by 33 drinking water treatment stations with a production capacity of 17.956 m3 / h for a storage capacity of 75.250 m3 supplying a network of 4.006 km, as against 5.682 m3 / h for a storage capacity of 25.180 m3 and a network of 2.426 km in 2005. In addition, there is the Water for All programme of 4.000 boreholes in the targeted villages.

The technical coordinator for public works did not fail to indicate that from 2003 till now, electricity supply has increased by the construction of four new power stations, notably in Imboulou with a capacity of 120 MW; Liouesso of 19.6 MW; the 300 Mw Pointe-Noire Centrale Electrique du Congo (gas power plant); the Brazzaville 32.5MW thermal power plant, giving total installed power for all power plants of around 610MW.

Moreover, in the telecommunications sector, Congo has worked to build an aerial fiber optic backbone between Pointe Noire, Brazzaville and Owando, thus ensuring the country's connection to the information superhighway from the Matombi village as part of the West African Submarine Cable Project known as the West Africa Cable System (WACS).

As for sports infrastructure, a sports complex with access roads was constructed in Kintélé, offering a football stadium of 60.000 seats, a sport center of 10.000 seats, an Olympic swimming pool with 3.000 seats and five gyms with 3000 seats each.

In terms of health infrastructure, since 2005, several hospitals have been built and others under construction. These include the specialized general hospital in Oyo, the Blanche Gomes and Mfilou Base Mother and Child hospitals, the Loandjili hospital and the Dolisie General Hospital. 13 general hospitals are under construction in all the Departments.

Still in the building sector, the technical coordinator of public works also announced the construction of the industrial and commercial area of ​​Maloukou; the Parliament Headquarters; the Kintélé international conference center provided with a 200-room hotel, a banquet hall, a conference hall, a chairpersons’ hall, twin towers of 30 floors and a seven-floor super market.     

“This is only a glimpse of the infrastructure works, a considerable effort has been accomplished during the last fifteen years, many projects are still in progress and others also await their implementation. Much has been done but much remains to be done in the area of basic infrastructure to make the country look modern”, concluded Oscar Otoka.  

To find out more, the members of the Chadian delegation expressed some concerns related to collaboration between the Ministry of Development, Territorial Equipment and Public Works and the other beneficiary ministerial departments, to the funding mechanism for projects, to the impact assessment of the municipalization program and to the socio-economic life of the population.