“Lie, lie, there will always be something left!”
While the largest Turkish firm MILVEST has embarked on the quest to modernize and provide the DRC with the most gigantic infrastructures in its history, certainly certain « so-called Congolese intellectuals » are discrediting the construction sites in progress. execution by the company MILVEST. However, this company already has achievements in its portfolio, notably the construction of the Kinshasa Financial Center with a majestic view of an urban landscape with its towers emerging from the ground in record time. Imposing buildings that have become permissible not only in the eyes of the Kinshasa population, but also in the eyes of foreigners who believe that the city of Kinshasa is in the process of being rebuilt.
On social networks, there is a vast campaign of disinformation and intoxication on the part of a group of people. These critics question the financial capacity of the Turkish company which plans to inject a sum of 1.2 billion US dollars (USD) for the construction of the Ndjili international airport.
However, it is therefore an open secret to admit that the success of Turkish companies in the construction of infrastructure in Africa seems to be there. Two of them, Summa and Limak, completed in eight months the construction of the Blaise Diagne airport which had been dragging on since 2008 in the Senegalese capital, Dakar. This airport today has a capacity of three million passengers; the construction of the convention center in Equatorial Guinea; as well as the construction of stadiums.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, as part of these public service concession agreements and contracts signed with the Turkish company MILVEST. This subsidiary of Miller Holding helped with the construction of numerous infrastructures, among others, the construction of Kinshasa Arena currently under construction and the Kinshasa financial center financed to the tune of $290 million.
In his speech on the occasion of the inaugural ceremony of the financial center of Kinshasa, which took place on December 19, 2023, the President of the Republic, His Excellency Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo said loud and clear that « The inauguration of the financial center of Kinshasa is intended to be a historic event which has just materialized my vision that I have always had, that of Democratic Republic of Congo, capable of raising its head and claiming greater dignity, development and prosperity through the help of its daughters and his sons by means of a regenerated and efficient administration.
Far from being just a simple structure, this infrastructure is intended to be a real catalyst for our country’s ability to achieve feats in record time, but much more for our collective desire to participate in the development of our continent. by gradually providing the Congolese State with the tools and means of its policy as well as its action so that it becomes a major player in the development of our nation and the people of Africa,” said President Félix Tshisekedi.
Nowadays, the landscape of the financial center of Kinshasa has become one of the most impressive places in the DRC. This place is indeed an address not to be missed for observers of the Congo skyscrapers. It turns out to be impossible to visit the DRC without passing through the financial center, a place that foreigners staying in Kinshasa must visit at least once in their life.
Another argument which does not hold water held by these « so-called intellectuals » is that of making the public believe that the concession contract signed between the DRC and the company MILVEST seems to be « contra legem », that is to say -say -say against the law. A purely white lie orchestrated by the enemies of the modernization of the country’s infrastructure.
It should be emphasized that in Congolese positive law the procedure for appointing a private person to manage a public service is completely legal. This can result from a contract called the management concerned and that called the concession of
public service.
The most common technique in terms of contractual delegation is concession. This is a contract by which a public person (the grantor) entrusts, under its control, to a person, in principle private (the concessionaire), the management of a service.
public. In other words, the concession is a method of delegated management of a public service by which the community instructs its co-contractor to carry out initial work and to operate the service at its own expense for a determined period by directly deducting from users of the service of the fees which remain acquired by it. The concessionaire’s remuneration is therefore provided by the users. The management of the activity is carried out at the risk of the private concessionaire.
In the planned case, the MILVEST company therefore plans to invest $1.2 billion to finance the work in return for a public service concession contract lasting 29 years. Which remains logical.
Critics should know that the time has passed, and it is important to adapt to current times when striving for development. The ardor of the MILVEST company will not be blunted despite the denigration orchestrated by these gravediggers. Whatever the poisoning, the DRC will never go back to put aside its modernization approach and build “gigantic” infrastructures via the public-private partnership (PPP) with henceforth its major partner the company MILVEST.
BENI KINKELA.
Specialist in Communication and Business Lawyer. (In company law, mining law, hydrocarbon law, insurance law, labor law, OHADA law, etc.)
