Leadership calls for sustainable financing
Brazzaville—The Road Fund’s management board gathered on 5 September 2025 for its 22nd ordinary session, a meeting held against the backdrop of a global slowdown that strains national budgets and infrastructure alike.
Presiding over the session, board chairman Yves Ickonga thanked members for their punctuality before opening discussions on how to reinforce the mechanism that safeguards more than 20 000 km of national and departmental roads.
In the final communiqué, directors agreed that maintaining a reliable flow of cash into the Fund remains the single most decisive factor for preserving the network, which enables commerce, school transport and access to health centres across the Republic of Congo.
A widening gap between needs and means
Director-General Elenga Obat Nzenguet detailed the numbers that keep him awake at night: the Ministry of Equipment and Public Works needs at least 50 billion FCFA each year simply to protect existing pavements and laterite stretches.
Actual resources earmarked at the start of the budget cycle—5 billion FCFA drawn from the National Road Maintenance and Urban Sanitation Fund—cover barely one month of routine pothole sealing, he stressed while emphasizing that no disbursement had yet reached the Road Fund’s account.
Obat Nzenguet insisted that labelling the situation a failure would be premature, noting that the fiscal year ends on 31 December and that the Treasury still has room to prioritise road upkeep alongside hospitals and other strategic needs.
Priority corridors awaiting action
Board members endorsed a list of projects to be financed once money is released, starting with the completion of contracts signed in 2024 such as resurfacing works on the Brazzaville–Kinkala axis and spot improvements on the RN1 near Pointe-Noire.
Two feeder roads launched this year by Public Works Minister Juste Désiré Mondelé also top the chart: the Mpiem–Kindamba link, vital for farm produce, and the Komono–Mbila spur, intended to unlock timber and tourist traffic in the south-west.
Engineers estimate that delaying these sites beyond the first quarter of 2026 could cause cost overruns of up to 30 percent, as erosion and inflation erase earlier mobilisation efforts.
Rainy season adds urgency
Meteorological services project above-average precipitation from mid-October, heightening concerns that clogged culverts and weakened shoulders may lead to closures on the RN2 and RN3; both carry fuel and food toward the capital.
The Road Fund traditionally schedules intensive grading campaigns before the rains, but with no funds released so far, provincial teams in Pool, Niari and Cuvette await instructions on whether to pre-position gravel and diesel.
“Every franc spent in September saves five francs in emergency repairs by January,” observed a senior maintenance engineer during the session, echoing studies from the African Development Bank that place preventive maintenance among the highest-yield public investments.
Looking at regional funding models
To secure longer-term stability, the board analysed regional examples, including Ghana’s dedicated fuel levy and Cameroon’s axle-load fines, both credited with reducing gaps between planned and executed maintenance.
Finance Ministry representatives present at the meeting confirmed that options such as a modest surcharge on vehicle registration or a slice of toll revenues are under review, though any change would follow wide stakeholder consultations.
Ickonga concluded on a note of optimism, recalling President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s repeated calls for resilient infrastructure to support diversification. He pledged transparent management of every franc received and invited the private sector to co-finance rest-area upgrades along strategic highways.