by The Fikiria Desk | Oct 26, 2023 | Property
The Democratic Republic of Congo holds some of the planet’s richest copper and cobalt, yet for decades its metal has reached global buyers by the longest possible journey — thousands of kilometres of road and ageing rail toward ports in the south and east, with...
by The Fikiria Desk | Oct 26, 2023 | Economics
The Democratic Republic of Congo exports more mineral value than almost any economy on the continent, and captures strikingly little of it at home. Metal leaves as concentrate; the margin accrues where the ore is refined, traded and consumed, far from Lualaba. On 26...
by The Fikiria Desk | Oct 26, 2023 | Money
In critical-mineral infrastructure the hard question is never whether a route makes sense on a map — it usually does — but who will fund it, who carries the risk, and whether the numbers close for a lender rather than a diplomat. The Democratic Republic of Congo has...
by The Fikiria Desk | Oct 26, 2023 | Farming
A railway built to carry copper does not have to run empty on the way back. The Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the most fertile territories on earth, imports a striking share of its food, in part because moving produce to and from its interior is slow and...
by The Fikiria Desk | Oct 26, 2023 | Profiles
Big corridors are remembered by the ceremonies that launch them, but they are delivered by operators whose names rarely appear in the statements. The Democratic Republic of Congo has watched ambitious infrastructure falter not for want of vision but for want of...