On March 20, Dubai-owned DP World awarded a €230 million contract to the African subsidiary of Portugal’s Mota-Engil to build the first phase of the new Banana Port in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
It marks a welcome milestone in the slow gestation of the Atlantic coast deep-sea port, first mooted in 1972. The port is intended to position the DRC as a regional trade hub and slash the cost of doing business with the country.
Seven years ago, DP World – one of the UAE’s flagship global logistics operators – was awarded a 30-year concession to develop and manage a $1 billion container port at Banana in the Kongo Central province.
The much-needed infrastructure project has been mired in controversy and delays, with accusations of corruption, objections from conservationists and a change in the country’s leadership.
The first phase is expected to take 24 months to complete. It will have a container handling capacity of 450,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) a year and feature a 600-metre quay with a 17.5-metre draft and a 30-hectare storage yard. A second phase will extend the quay wall by more than 2km.
The UAE is an enabler of intra-African trade and a bridge between emerging and developed markets
The original concession, signed in March 2018 under the presidency of Joseph Kabila, was described by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) as being “tainted with corruption”.
The PPLAAF stated that the negotiations had taken place without a call for tender – contrary to Congolese law – and claimed that the corporate structure of the deal allowed for “the personal enrichment of several political figures”, including Kabila himself.
After assuming office in 2019, President Felix Tshisekedi set about renegotiating the concession terms, which he said did not consider the interests of the DRC. After three years of wrangling, a term sheet confirming amendments to the initial contract was signed in 2021. This was followed by signing a collaboration agreement in December 2021 and a foundation stone laying ceremony to mark the start of construction in January 2022.
However, more technical and financial disputes followed – in part connected with plans to modernise and expand the draft of the DRC’s existing river ports – and so the project ground to a halt once more.
In August 2024, the UK’s development finance institution, British International Investment (BII), joined the Banana Port project as a minority investor. BII committed up to $35 million towards the development of the first phase and provided fresh impetus to the scheme, which finally seems to be moving forward again.
This is good news. Banana Port promises to be transformative for the DRC, whose development has been constrained by a lack of infrastructure and logistics capacity.
According to BII, Banana Port will cut the cost of trade in the DRC by 12 percent, while its development will create 85,000 jobs and about $1.1 billion in additional trade. The port will also be connected to a free trade zone to encourage investment in value-addition manufacturing.
WamWith a coastline of just 37km, the DRC – which is the size of Western Europe – is mostly landlocked. Its two existing ports, Matadi and Boma, are situated on the Congo River and have a limited draft, meaning very large vessels cannot dock there. The powerful Inga Falls also separate the capital, Kinshasa, from the sea.
As a result, most international trade passes through seaports in Angola and Pointe Noire in the neighbouring Republic of Congo – where Abu Dhabi Ports Group operates a container terminal. Cargo is then transported by road or trans-shipped on smaller vessels to the DRC at increased cost to consumers.
Banana Port will be able to accept the largest vessels in operation. It will serve as the single maritime gateway for all containerised goods, providing the DRC with logistical independence and sovereignty over its foreign trade while reducing the cost of imports and improving the competitiveness of exports.
According to the World Bank, the DRC ranks among the five poorest nations in the world. Yet, it is endowed with exceptional natural resources, including minerals, hydropower potential, significant arable land and the world’s second-largest rainforest.
The DRC is already Africa’s largest copper producer and the world’s biggest source of cobalt. Access to modern port infrastructure will improve the investment case for a raft of new minerals projects. In July 2023, the UAE itself signed a $2 billion partnership agreement with Tshisekedi to develop at least four industrial mines – underscoring a growing appetite to secure critical mineral supply chains.
This investment sits within a broader UAE strategy to build economic corridors linking Africa to the Middle East and beyond, using the country’s advanced logistics as a springboard. With port concessions, free trade zones and logistics hubs across the continent, the UAE is establishing itself as an enabler of intra-African trade and a bridge between emerging and developed markets.
The DP World project illustrates the risk of operating in emerging economies, where conditions and negotiating parties are apt to change.
Banana Port is still another two years away from completion, and with a coup attempt in May last year and rebel forces gaining ground in the east, there may yet be more twists in the tale to come.
But it also serves as a reminder of what African governments stand to gain by investing in world-class infrastructure – and the outsized role the UAE is now playing in helping shape that future.
Liz Bains is a projects-focused business journalist covering Africa and the Middle East
