Millions missing in loans from China to DRC copper mining project
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government failed to account for more than half a billion dollars of infrastructure loans received from Chinese institutions over a six-year period, according to the Carter Center. Sicomines, a Chinese-Congolese copper-mining venture, received $1.163bn in loans between 2008 and 2014 to spend on infrastructure, but disbursed only $478m, the US-based advocacy group said in a report published on November 3. Its findings are based on data provided by the DRC department that oversees the loan programme, the Office for Coordination and Monitoring of the Sino-Congolese Program (BCPSC). "BCPSC did not provide an explanation of the discrepancy or the allocation of the remaining $685m," the Carter Center said. The BCPSC rejected the report’s findings without providing alternative figures. Sicomines is a $3.2bn mining project on a 6.8-million metric-ton copper deposit in southeastern DRC. It’s a key part of a multibillion-dollar deal struck between Congo and ...
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