(Ecofin Agency) - From 23 to 25 July 2015, Thomas Lukaha Losendjola, the vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, New Technologies of Information and Communication (PT/NTIC), undertook a round of inspection in the Kongo Central province. He was interested by the fiber optic laid by the government from the landing station of Moanda to Kinshasa. And the observations listed by the minister are disastrous. According to him, the installation of this high speed facility “was not done according to the rule book”.

The fiber optic was laid right there on the ground in some places, without any piping to protect it. Piping which should be buried at about one metre below the ground, according to international norms. The premises which shelter the regeneration stations, apart from those in Songololo and Moanda, were not properly waterproofed. They are subject to water and dust infiltration. The air conditioning which is meant to prevent the equipment from overheating is not of good quality.

Not being able to start afresh on the Moanda-Kinshasa fiber optic deployment, Thomas Lukaha Losendjola gave instructions to correct the mistakes in order to prevent any negative impact on the telecommunication structures in the future. Among other things, the civil engineering works must be rectified, the stations refurbished.

It may be recalled that it was the realisation of this exact same fiber optic segment which was overpriced 15 times its real price, according to a report published in May 2015 by the commission of enquiry led by MP Godefroid Mayobo and set up in 2013 to know the causes of DRC non-connection to fiber optic.