Credit: /cceonlinenews.com /  New Parliament complex in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo  will feature two chambers that will have extra facilities such as office space for the staff, parking space, 12 committee rooms as well as conference facilities

DIPLOMATIC TIMES  STAFF

The construction of a Parliament Complex in the capital city Brazzaville of Republic of Congo is set towards its completion in 2020 as planned, construction and civil engineering reported.   –as initially disclosed by a local news portal, ICI Brazza.  Jean-Jacques Bouya, Minister in charge of planning of the territory of the Congo confirmed the reports and said aerial photos showed work had been advanced on the complex.  Construction works on the US $58m project, fully funded as a donation from the Chinese government, kicked off in May 2017, in an event that was presided over by the country’s long-serving President Denis Sassou Nguesso. Construction of the parliament building is currently being undertaken by Chinese firm Jiangsu Provincial Construction. Parliament Complex.  The complex will feature two chambers that will have extra facilities such as office space for the staff, parking space, 12 committee rooms as well as conference facilities. The country’s parliamentary delegation have already visited the site of the project located in the capital Brazzaville. Upon completion, the new parliament will accommodate joint sittings of the senate and the national assembly.

“This project is helping to open the capital city to modernity and remains one of the biggest cooperation projects carried out by China in sub-Saharan Africa in the form of a gift,”

said Jean-Jacques Bouya.

The project has however faced critics from human rights activists and the opposition who  believe that a new parliament is not a priority for a country fraught with rights issues and political violence in the Pool region.

China, the financier of the project called it a gift to the conflict ridden country drawing criticism from a human rights group and the African country’s political opposition.

“The priority for us is the resolution of the crisis that has shaken the Pool for a year and the improvement of the human rights situation as a whole,”

said Trésor Nzila, executive director of the Congolese Human Rights Observatory in Congo.

Present at the launch ceremony was China’s Deputy Minister of Commerce, Qian Keming. Chinese investment in Africa continues to grow at a rapid rate.

China Is Investing Big Money In the Republic of Congo’s Special Economic Zone

Source: youtube / China is investing in the Republic of Congo’s Special Economic Zone. The zone will be built in Pointe Noire.  According to  China,  the zone project is a “direct investment”  in the west African nation, and not a loan or gift with any strings attached .

Congolese markets have lots of Chinese business operators at different levels. In Brazzaville and the commercial capital, Pointe Noire, the foreigners along with West African business people dominate trading activities.