The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is stepping up road investment as it seeks to turn its long-running partnership with China into a broader transport network.
Major projects are moving ahead in Kinshasa and across the country, with authorities targeting roads that connect cities, mining areas and regional trade routes.
The partnership was signed in 2008 and revised in 2024 under a fifth amendment. The amendment raised the infrastructure envelope from $3.2 billion to $7 billion. DRC authorities said the revised commitment could cover roughly 5,000 kilometers of roads.
Under the arrangement, Chinese companies and DRC state-owned mining company Gécamines operate the SICOMINES mining venture, while the partnership also provides for infrastructure investment in the country. Implementation has accelerated. In July 2026, DRC authorities launched a new review of the agreement to assess progress and address delays affecting projects. Officials highlighted the Kinshasa ring road, National Road 1 (RN1) and the Kananga–Kalamba-Mbuji road among the major projects covered by the partnership.
From Kinshasa to Regional Trade Routes
Kinshasa is at the center of much of the current road-building effort. Two ring roads in the southeast and southwest of the capital are designed to improve connections across the city and link with RN1. According to government plans, the two roads will total about 63 kilometers and include four-lane sections and supporting drainage infrastructure.
In August 2026, authorities also launched construction of a 2.02-kilometer, eight-lane boulevard linking the Triomphal area with Bandalungwa. The new road is designed to ease traffic across Kinshasa and make it easier to move people and goods through the city.
Beyond the capital, the 230-kilometer Kananga–Kalamba-Mbuji road could have a wider regional role. Authorities have presented it as a road extension of the Lobito Corridor, a regional rail and logistics route linking the DRC and Zambia to Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito. The road will link central DRC with Angola and could give businesses and producers in the country’s interior another route to regional markets. For an economy where poor transport links can make moving goods across long distances difficult and expensive, that connection could be significant.
Turning Investment Into Economic Connectivity
DRC’s size makes transport a major economic challenge. The country has vast mineral and agricultural resources, but weak road connections raise the cost of moving goods between production areas, cities and markets. Better roads could help businesses outside the major urban centers reach consumers more easily and connect producers to regional trade routes. That matters not only for mining but also for agriculture and domestic commerce.
There are signs that the infrastructure side of the Sino-Congolese partnership is moving faster than it did in previous years.
According to the IMF, 46% of identified projects covered by SICOMINES resources allocated for 2022–25 had been executed by the end of 2025. The projects were valued at more than $1 billion. That figure was up from 30% in mid-2025 and less than 10% at the end of 2024. The figures point to a clear acceleration, but they also show how much work remains. DRC authorities launched the July review partly to identify obstacles slowing implementation, rather than simply announcing another expansion of the partnership.
Increasing the financial commitment is one thing; turning that money into completed roads is another.
For Kinshasa, the payoff could extend well beyond new stretches of asphalt. Better links between the country’s interior, major cities and neighboring markets could support trade, improve access to economic centers and strengthen regional corridors. The challenge now is to turn the larger infrastructure commitment into roads capable of changing how goods and people move across the DRC.
