Report of the Bas-Congo Provincial Stakeholders Meeting on Inga, 10-12 November 2008, Matadi, DRC

By: 
Pastor Jacques Bakulu, CEPECO
Date: 
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

WORKSHOP THEME:

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INGA SITE AS SEEN BY CIVIL SOCIETY FROM BAS-CONGO

VISION: Participation of all stakeholders in the sustainable management of natural resources of the province for its sustainable development.

OBJECTIVES:

  • The beneficial appropriation of the project INGA III and IV (Grand INGA) for all the community of Bas-Congo.
  • To guarantee a good collaboration between SNEL which manages INGA I and INGA II, the ancestral land rights holders, the whole community and the civil society of Bas-Congo.
  • To fight for a transparent management of our province’s resources.
  • To bring the concerted lobbying close to the provincial government, national government, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and all the other financial backers interested in the INGA III and INGA IV projects in order to take the claims and the interests of the communities affected by the dams, which CEPECO introduced to the World Bank at its meeting of validation and acceptance of the project in June 2007.
  • Compensation due to the misdeeds caused by INGA I and II.
  • To build a modern city with all the socio-economic and cultural conditions in favour of the communities which will be moved before the construction of Inga IV.
  • To guarantee the engagement of their children by the company before construction of INGA III and INGA IV.
  • To help the national as well as the provincial governments and those authorities in charge of SNEL in order to make it competitive to produce electricity which will be accessible to all levels of the population and to become thus a tool for the sustainable development of the province in subdividing in 3 different, autonomous enterprises which will be charged with the production and operation of the dams, another in charge of the transmission of the electric current and another still in charge of commercialization (distribution) of electricity.
  • To lead the government to make INGA a tourist site and not only a strategic site.
  • To cement this dialogue with the service of sustainable development of our province between the government, SNEL, civil society and the affected communities.
  • To produce a schedule of conditions for the provincial assembly, the provincial government and SNEL.