The construction of a huge water treatment plant aimed at increasing sustainable access to clean water in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has began.
The project being undertaken by Chinese firm, Weihai International Economic & Technical Cooperative (WIETC) will involve construction of an intake in the Congo River that flows through Kinshasa.
The raw water will be pumped to the plant via an 805 mm diameter pipe and over a distance of 3 km via a military camp located in Ngaliema, a commune west of Kinshasa City.
The untreated water will pass through an arrival tower before entering the drinking water plant. The plant will have a capacity of 110,000 cubic metres per day.
WIETC will also construct a building that will serve as a storage facility for water treatment chemicals. The Chinese company has 23 months to complete all the work.
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As part of the Urban Drinking Water Supply Project (Pemu) in the DRC, the construction of the drinking water plant in Kinshasa is focused on increasing sustainable access to water in selected urban areas.
The project also aims at improving the efficiency of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s water distribution company (Regideso). Pemu concerns three cities in the DRC: the capital Kinshasa, Lubumbashi in the south and Matadi in the west.
The existing pumping stations in Kinshasa will be rehabilitated and water transfer pipe reinforced over a distance of 18 km from the N’djili plant. Also, plans are underway for the rehabilitation of 120 km of secondary and tertiary pipelines. Similar projects will also be carried out in the cities of Lubumbashi and Matadi.
Funded by the World bank, the overall financial investment of the project is US$360 million.
US$59.4 million of the budget will go towards the construction of the “industrial water treatment complex”.