The UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, British International Investment, will provide a capital injection of up to $35m alongside DP World towards the development of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first deepwater container port.
BII has committed to invest at the Port of Banana which is expected to improve the economic welfare for the lowest-earning rural households in the DRC. The DRC is Africa’s second largest country and the fourth most populous on the continent.
The deal is an extension of the partnership between BII and global ports and logistics operator DP World that commenced with the modernisation and expansion of ports in Dakar (Senegal), Sokhna (Egypt) and Berbera (Somaliland) in 2021.
As with the other ports in the partnership, BII will be a minority investor in the new port.
With a draft of 17.5m, the Port of Banana will receive large container vessels from around the globe and will become the single gateway for imports and exports of containers in the DRC.
These efficiencies are expected to cut the cost of trade in DRC by 12%, BII said.
The port is being developed in multiple phases and its capacity is expected to gradually increase over time.
It will be connected to a network of additional infrastructure, including a free zone and multimodal logistics infrastructure to the country’s largest urban centres, including Kinshasa and its almost 17 million inhabitants, via the cities of Boma and Matadi.
The 578km Banana-Matadi-Kinshasa trade corridor is home to about 54 million people, who will benefit economically from the new port, according to BII.
The UK Minister for Africa, Lord Collins of Highbury, said: “This investment from BII will help transform DRC’s economy, establishing the country as a major trading hub on the continent, and providing a significant boost to local sectors from infrastructure, logistics and green energy.”
