Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • KEY FACTS
  • Capital city : Kinshasa
  • Independance Day: June 30, 1960
  • Date of joining OUA or AU:
  • Investment/Business opportunities: DRC has reserves of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and enormous assets in the energy sector with 37% of African hydroelectric potential and power generating capacity of around 100,000 MW, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal etc. DRC is also home to one of AU Flagship projects, the Inga Dam, expected to generate 43,200 MW of power, to support current regional power pools and their combined service and ensure access of all Africans to clean and affordable electricity. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has reserves of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and a potential hydroelectric power generating capacity of around 100,000 MW. The Inga Dam on the Congo River has the potential capacity to generate 40,000 to 45,000 MW of electric power, sufficient to supply the electricity needs of the whole Southern Africa region.The DRC has several assets in the infrastructure sector, including the following:National road network (152,400 km); Roads (58,125 km), Railways (5.033 Km); Sea, river and lake waterways (16,238 km) to be exploited for the most part and Runways. 
  • Tourism: The DRC offers a varied range of tourist attractions through different provinces that present multifaceted characteristics. A variety of ecosystems covering nearly 145 million hectares, the second largest tropical forest massif in the world after the Amazon and one of the planet’s biodiversity reserves. Natural sites (the Congo River), the impressive waterfalls, the lakes and their contours, the mountainous areas of the East; heritage monuments, religious buildings; and cultural (a rich mix of cultures and traditions around 450 ethnic groups), art markets, historical sites. It also offers skiing opportunity on top of Ruwenzori mountain and nine national Parks as well as the Virunga Park where the “Ishango Bones” (the oldest attestation of the practice of mathematics in human history) were found dating back 22000 years ago.