DRC: Bitakwira invited to justify the management of 300 million CDF of a water supply project!

The outgoing Minister of Rural Development, Justin Bitakwira, is suspected of having mischarged and overcharged the Mbanza-Boma drinking water project in Kongo Central. The Alumni Association of Notre Dame College of Mbanza-Boma (ASSACOM) is seeking from the Head of State, Felix Tshisekedi, an audit on the management of the 300 million CDFs managed by this minister for the execution of the said project.

In a memorandum addressed to the President of the Republic on August 10, this structure denounces the poor quality of the work done in the field. She asked him to order the audit of 300 million CDFs disbursed by the public treasury that Justin Bitakwira received as a deposit of the overall cost of the project, amounting to 419,631,663 CDF, the equivalent in US dollars $ 254,322.22 (at the rate of 1650 CDF / USD).

ASSACOM categorically opposes the approach that would already be undertaken by Justin Bitakwira to access the disbursement of CDN 119 631 663 due to the balance of project financing.

Moreover, the members of this organization plead for the temporary shutdown of the works of the drinking water supply project at the Mbanza-Boma mission. Concerned about the quality of the water to be distributed, she considers her request for analysis of this vital commodity to be well founded.

Conscious of the fact that this is a project that directly affects the health of the target community, the alumni of Notre Dame College of Mbanza-Boma recommend the consultation and attribution of the book to the National Service of hydraulics (SNRH).

At the end of an evaluation, the ASSACOM affirms with bitterness that Justin Bitakwira, at the time owner and project manager, has only delivered some materials from the site of this project.

It consists mainly of a 1,000-liter domestic tanker, four home-made wheelbarrows, five shovels, three PVCs, one hundred brick blocks, fifteen bags of gray cement and twenty iron bars, a quantity of a pebble estimated at plus or minus one ton and a submerged pump.

For ASSACOM, all these materials and materials have an approximate global value of only 5,000 USD, or 8,250 million CDF out of the 300 million CDF disbursed by the Treasury.

Initiatrice of this project, the ASSACOM had, from the beginning, requested the expertise of a team of Korean technicians for feasibility studies. These showed that the supply of drinking water to the Mbanza-Boma plateau required an overall amount of 65,000 USD, or 107,250,000 CDF (at the exchange rate of 1,650 CDF / USD). This is far less than the sum of 300 million CDF collected by the Minister of Rural Development.

Hence, the overcharging decried by this structure that challenges anyone to brandish evidence contrary to his argument.

As a reminder, the Mbanza-Boma Plateau consists of four schools, namely: the Notre-Dame College of Mbanza-Boma, the highly renowned Kivuvu-Kisiama High School and two primary schools, one of which is mainly reserved for girls.

The head of state, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, too, is the product of this institution of Primary, Secondary and Professional Education (EPSP), counted among the best schools in the country.

Emilie MBOYO