30 October 2008
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the size of Western Europe. Yet this immense country possesses less than 1,000 kilometres of metalled roads. By contrast, the UK has over 47,000 km of main roads alone.
Of DRC’s ten provincial capitals, only one is accessible by road from the capital, Kinshasa. Communications between urban and rural areas are frequently non-existent.
Now a DFID-supported scheme is working to improve the links between the country's cities, towns and far-flung villages. By opening up new roads, trade is being boosted and poor people are reaping the benefits.
An arduous journey
With almost all roads in DRC impassable even to four-wheeled vehicles, most trade in DRC is currently done by bicycle. Bicycles are loaded with up to 500 kilograms of goods and pushed huge distances between markets by "pedalleurs". Due to the extremely hard conditions they are exposed to, these pedalleurs have an average life expectancy of just 35.
One such pedalleur is Tshibambe Maluku. Married with two young sons, he lives in Kabinda, a town around 150 km outside the diamond mining city of Mbuji-Mayi in South Central DRC.
Each month, Tshibambe travels from his home, carrying a mixture of manufactured goods (lotions, powdered milk sachets, razor blades), and pedals or pushes his bike along dilapidated dirt roads to Kalemie on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, 1,000 km away. This is equivalent to pushing a heavily-loaded bicycle from London to Newcastle and back.
After selling these goods, he loads his bike with over 100 kg of dried and salted fish for the return trip for sale in Kabinda. Each leg of this arduous journey takes him about two weeks, averaging 70 km a day.
Tshibambe makes about £150 profit from each trip, most of which goes to his family. But he also reinvests a part of it in goods to be carried by other pedalleurs. Over the years, he has built up enough surplus stock to now have five pedalleurs working for him doing the same journey.
Tshibambe hopes that one day the roads will be improved sufficiently for goods to be transported by truck. This would dramatically reduce the time taken per leg from two weeks to two to three days. And it would reduce the cost of transport by up to ten times.
New routes for trade
The new "Pro-Routes" programme, which is the product of close collaboration between the DRC government, the World Bank and other donors including DFID, will co-ordinate funding to reopen (and keep open) 3,000 km of the country's most important roads.
Built around a new national road reconstruction strategy, the project will put social and environmental concerns at the heart of road rehabilitation. This means that people like Tshibambe will be able to grow their businesses and, in doing so, provide more affordable food and other essentials to poor people across the whole of the country.
Facts and stats
- DFID will contribute over £75 million to Pro-Routes over the next five years, along with a World Bank contribution of £25 million.
- The Pro-Routes Trust Fund was launched in July 2008 and will run for ten years.
- The Pro-Routes Trust Fund is designed to allow further contributions from DFID, the World Bank and other donors, leading to a harmonised approach, lower transaction costs and a common and sustainable approach to road rehabilitation in DRC.