China-Congo Industrial City $12B Deal Finally Gets Signed in Kinshasa
On 23 October 2025, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signed an agreement with Sino-Congo Special Zone Consortium (SCSZ) to build the China-Congo Industrial City. The Project is estimated to cost USD 12 billion and is broken down in several phases. It is located in the eastern suburbs of Kinshasa in the Maluku area and is set to transform the DRC into a leading industrial and economic hub in Central Africa.
Congolese PM Judith Suminwa witnessed the signing of the agreement between the two parties. The China-Congo Special Zone Consortium consists of a group of Chinese companies led by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).
It is to be recalled that in 2008, DRC signed a similar ‘minerals-for-infrastructure’ deal worth USD 8 billion which was dubbed ‘The Deal of the Century.’ The 2008 deal was also with the Sicomines consortium of Chinese companies comprising of China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), SinoHydro, and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. Later on, the terms of the deal was renegotiated by President Felix Tshisekedi as it was deemed to be not too favorable to the Congolese side.
For this deal, extra oversight is being demanded to ensure that it is really to the benefit of the local communities. Actually, the signing ceremony had to be delayed for several months due to long and complex negotiations. An initial draft presented to the Council of Ministers on 18 July 2025 was rejected. In July 2025, China even sent a high-level delegation led by the Vice-Chair of the China People’s Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC) QIN Boyong to lobby in favor the Project. Finally, the amended version was approved on 12 September 2025, with the signing ceremony rescheduled for October 2025.
The 1st phase focuss on the Industrial Park which covers an area of 75 square kilometers. The Industrial Park aims to attract 1,200 factories and generate some 150,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The Project is classified as a Special Economic Zone (#SEZ) and thus enjoys all the fiscal and customs abatements in order to attract both foreign and local investments. The targeted sectors are agro-processing, metallurgical, chemical, textiles, and so on. It is also based on a Public-Private Partnership (#PPP) with the Government of DRC having a strategic stake in the Project. A Special Purpose Vehicle called Sino-Congo Special Economic Zone Sarl has been registered to implement the Project.
The Sino-Congolese Industrial City is part of the larger project $50-billion Kinshsaa Urban Expansion Project to build an entire new city of 43,000 hectares in the Maluku district. The Master Plan includes on ab industrial zone spread across 5,000 hectares, a commercial district of 2,000 hectares, and a residential area of 500 hectares.
The Kinshasa Urban Expansion Project is inspired and similar to Rwanda’s Kigali Vision City, Ethiopia’s Sheger City and the Addis Ababa Corridor Development. As a for the DRC, it is part of the Lobito Corridor to link to the Atlantic Ocean and might be eventually connect to the TAZARA as well to link to the Indian Ocean.