00:00When it was renegotiated more than a year ago, it was described as the contract of the century.
00:06But NGOs and civil society groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo are far from happy with the controversial Minerals for Infrastructure deal with China.
00:15The Congo is Not for Sale coalition says it's heavily skewed in favor of the Chinese group.
00:21Originally signed in 2008, it granted Chinese companies access to extensive copper and cobalt mines in exchange for infrastructure development.
00:31Kinshasa describes the new agreement reached last year as a win-win partnership, saying infrastructure investment has increased from $3.5 to $7.5 billion.
00:40But the coalition says this is not true.
00:43The Chinese mining company still benefits from full tax exemptions, resulting in an annual loss for the state of at least $100 million in revenue.
00:51In addition, the infrastructure financing, under which the DRC must receive more than $300 million a year, is subject to the copper price being equal to or greater than $8,000 per tonne.
01:03If it's lower, then the funding is not made available.
01:06The coalition is calling for an urgent reassessment of the deal.
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