World Bank Document

R E S T R I C T E D RETUR6' T-<) REPO$=UI DcS ChT R e p o r t N o.-T w0.2 2Oa RTEPORTS DESK Reprt O.CRY2O WITHIN 'L UI ONE WEEK Public Disclosure Authorized This report was preparedfor use within the Bank. In makingit availableto others,the Bank assumesno responsibilityto themfor the accuracyor completenessof the informationcontained herein. INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT Public Disclosure Authorized APPRAISAL OF THE ROAD, PORT AND WATERWAY PROJECTS IN THE BELGIAN CONGO Public Disclosure Authorized February 26, 1960 Public Disclosure Authorized Department of Technical Operations CURRENCY EQUIVALENT I Belgian franc - 1 Congo franc U.S.$1.00 - 50 francs 1 franc - 2 U.S. cents 1,000,000 francs - U.S.$ 20,000 APPRAISAL OF THE ROAD,PORT AINDWATEBIJAY PROJECTS IN THEBELGIAN CONGO Table of Contents Page Summary I INTRODUCTION II THE TRANSPORTSYSTEM OF THE CONGO 1 III THE ROADPROJECT 3 Road Construction under the First Ten-Year Plan 3 Road Project of Loan 184-BE 4 Description of the Project UJnder Consideration 4 Cost and Financing 4 Administration and Execution 5 Design Standards 5 Justification of the Project 6 Effect on Costs of Road Transport 7 IV THEPORT AND WATERKAY PROJECT 7 Organization and Responsibilities of the Service of Navigation and Waterways 7 Activities Under the First Ten-Year Plan 8 Descriptionof the Project 8 Cost and Financing 9 Execution of the Work 10 Justificationof the Project 10 V CONCLUSIONS 12 Table: 1. Density of the Congo Road Network (December 31, 1958) 2. Estimated Costs of Road Works included in the Project 3. Design Standards for Roads to be Constructedor Reconstructed 4. Selected Statistics Relating to Road Vehicles 5. Some Operational Details on the River Transport of Otraco Chart: 1. Imports of Mineral Oils in the Congo l152-l958 Annexes: I. Progress of Works under Loan 184-BE II. Road Project - Justification of Individual Roads III. Port and Waterway Projects - Justification of IndividualProjects Maps: Road Project Port and W4aterwayProject i. The Belgian Government has requested a loan of US$28 million equivalent for the further development of roads, ports and waterways in the Belgian Congo. ii. The road project, which would complement the road project of Loan 184-BE of November 1957, is for the construction,reconstruction and improvementof a) 1,963 km. of roads comprising farm-to-marketcon- nections, links between regional centers, and feeder roads to river ports and railheads; b) 2,837 km. of pioneer roads for agriculture; and c) ancillaryworks of bridges and ferries. The estimated cost is Cfr. 1,574 million (includinga 15% allowance for contingencies)equivalent to US$31.5 million, of which the foreign exchange componentfor equipment, materials and services of US&20.5 million equivalent. The project should be completedbefore the end of 1962. iii. The port and waterway project is for the constructionand improvementof a number of ports, the acquisition of equipment to deepen and maintain navigable chanmels - particularly in the Congo estuary approaches to Matadi - and for additional navigation aids in the form of beacon lights, etc. The estimated cost is Cfr. 508.3 million (including a 15% allowance for contingencies) equivalent to US$10.1 million, of which the foreign currency component for equipment, materials and services is US$IP7.5million equivalent. The project should be completed by the end of 1961. iv. Planning, design and supervisionof execution of the works in the projects would be performed by the experiencedstaffs of the Road Division and the Service of Navigation and Waterways of the Congofs Public Works Department. Major works would be carried out by contract awarded on the basis of international competitive bidding. v, The vast transportnetwork of the Belgian Congo is based on a river-rail system, using the navigable stretches of the Congo and Kasai Rivers as the nain arteries, and their tributaries and the railroads as feeder lines. The principal function of this system has been to transport exports and imports. The focal points of this trade are the ocean port of Matadi and the capital city of Leopoldville, both situated on the Congo River. Roads are a relative newcomer to this system. In addition to service for exports, their function is to provide access to local consumption centers for the supply of foodstuffs, and to open up the country to agricultural development, including in some instances population resettlerment. vi. Expansion and improvementof the Congo's road, port and waterway network is necessary to implement the developmentprograms now under way and in planning, and for realizationof the full benefits which they should bring. In particular, the success of agricultural programs for increasing cash crops, for land settlerent and other developmental works, is largely dependent on completion of the road project. Economic justification for a number of the individual projects could be found in the immediate reduction in the cost of transportation. However, of greater importanceis the fact that the 75% of the populationwhich derives its livelihoodfrom agriculture,will be given the means to improve its oconomic and social status. ii vii. The project is sound. It is suitable for a Bank loan of US$28 million equivalent. An appropriate term would be 12 years including a grace period of three years. The borrower would be the Belgian Congo. BELGIANICONGO APP?A1SAI OF THE ROAD, PORT AND-WATENJAY PROJECTS I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Belgian Government has asked the Bank to provide financial assistancein the amount of US$ 28 million equivalentto further the development of the transportationsystem of the Belgian Congo. This amount divided: ; 20.5 million for roads; $ 7.5 million for ports and waterways, representsthe estimated cost of imported equipment,materials and services over a constructionperiod of approximately 4 years. 2. The borrower woid d be the Belgian Congo, the guarantor the King- dom of Belgium. 3. This report discusses and assesses the works for which the loan has been requested. It is based on field studies made by a Bank mission which visited the Congo in M4ayand June 1959. 4. In NTovember1957, Loan No. 184-BE for ' 140 million equivalent was made to the Belgian Congo for a project of road constructionand im- provement. The execution of road works in this project is proceeding satisfactorily. II. THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM OF THE CONGO 5. -vaien the economic development of the Congo started at the begin- ning of the present centuriy a transport network was built up primarily for the export of the agriculturaland mineral wealth, most of it located deep in the interior of the Congo, notably copper and other metals from the Katanga, and for the importationof machinery,equipment, other manu- factured goods and building materials. This network was based on river transport on the Congo and Kasai Rivers. ijth the subsequent economic growth of the Congo, the network was gradually extended and improved, a process which is still going on. 6. The backbone of the present network is still the river-rail transport system formed by the navigable stretches of the Congo and Kasai Rivers, with parallel railroads where they are not navigable. The total length of the navigable waterways part of this system is 2,646 km. and of the railroads 491 km. This river-railnetwork connects the ocean port of IIatadi,with a number of railroad lines of a total length of 4,350 km., and with a large number of navigable river tributariesof a total length of about 9,000 km., which penetrate further into the interior. 7. Goods have to be trans-shippedrepeatedly from rail to river and vice-versa, and even on the rivers from large barges to small barges, to accommodatethe characteristicsof thnerivers concerned. - 2 - 8, Roads are newcomers in the transport system of the Congo, though it should be borne in mind that even the oldest railroad, which is from Matadi to leopoldville, was only completed in 1898. Before the wrr of 1939-1945 there were practically only pioneer roads built by hand, and these were generally little better than trails. The subsequent growth ef the road network in the Congo is closely associated with the spreading of cash crops into the interior and the steady growth of an internal e- conomiy and of internal traffic. Its main significance is still local and supplementary to the river-rail system. There are no long-distance trunk roads in the Congo and the function of the roads, both existing and planned, is still limited to feeding local production into the river-rail system, prcviding- access to local consumption centers for the supply of foodstuffs, and opening up the country. IR!ost of the road network is formed by seasonal earth roads and even now, after the completionof the First Ten-Year Program, the Congo boasts no more than 1,000 km of paved roads in a total area of 2.3 million sq. km. The entire road network has a low density: 6.19 km of road per 100 sq. kIciand 10.64 km per 1,000 inhabit- ants (see Table 1). 9. The transport industry has a clearly defined structure which may be briefly describedas follows: i) Four large companies, one of them governmentowned, operate the river-railnetwork already described. They carry a very large share of the Belgian Congo traffic, comprising export, import and local. ii) A small number of fairly large road-transportcompanies, which cooperate closely with the companiesmentioned above, and which move export goods to the river ports and railheads, distribute imported goods, and carry local trade. iii) A substantial number of small firms, mostly European, that run reg- ular services on much smaller networks, using smaller truck fleets.

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