In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, the capital, will see the arrival of a cable car circulating above its streets. The government intends, through this project, to relieve the city of its traffic jams by introducing a cable air transport line. Work begins this week.
In Kinshasa, the traffic is hellish. The city, created for 500 000 inhabitants, is congested today by more than fifteen million inhabitants. In road transport, faced with the lack of infrastructure, the authorities are introducing an air transport line by cable. The pilot phase covers two kilometers linking two strategic stations in a popular district. Its daily capacity is estimated at 5 000 passengers.
“ Ambitious project »
Guy Loando, Minister of Regional Planning, is leading this government project : “ This ambitious project is fully in line with the vision of the Head of State, Félix Tshisekedi, who is committed to developing transport infrastructure in the DRC to support economic growth and improve the quality of life of the population. We started this project. A preliminary study has been done. We came across the opportunity. We first do this pilot phase to see the behavior of the population because it is quite a habit. We must not build works that the population will not use. We first start with this phase: University of Kinshasa to the Triangle. When we see the attendance, how the population will get used to it…that’s when we will be able to see, in accordance with the provincial land use plan, if we are considering other lines and extending this to other cities in the country »
French technology
The infrastructure will be built by a Turkish company, but the technology is purely French. For this work, the State will release occupied spaces.
“As part of the implementation of the project, there are spaces that we will have to expropriate for public utility. There are compensations that will be paid to landowners who will be the subject of this act. All of this is planned and included in the project. We’re not here to cause trouble “, adds Guy Loando, Minister of Territorial Development.
The infrastructure could be operational in six months, according to the authorities.
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