Initially announced for mid-April, the rehabilitation and widening work on the runway at the Lubumbashi/Luano International Airport is ultimately expected to be postponed to May, according to corroborating sources close to the matter.
A Revised Schedule Following Technical Consultation
Meeting recently, experts from the Régie des Voies Aériennes (RVA), the Safricas company, and other technical services evaluated the feasibility of the project, in accordance with the guidelines of the Vice Prime Minister in charge of Transport. The initial objective aimed for the rapid execution of the runway widening work, estimated at 800 meters, over a period of three months.
However, during the discussions, Safricas expressed reservations about its operational capacity to meet this deadline. The company notably pointed out a lack of equipment that would allow for continuous work, especially at night—an essential condition for keeping to such a tight schedule.
Weighing Technical Constraints
Faced with these constraints, Safricas now estimates that the duration of the work could extend between five and eight months to cover the entire section concerned. This projection contrasts sharply with the initial ambitions of the authorities.
The minutes of this technical meeting are expected to be forwarded to the Transport VPM for a final decision. The latter will have to arbitrate between the imperative for rapid infrastructure modernization and the actual operational constraints on the ground.
A Postponement to May Pending a New Press Release
Pending this official decision, several sources confirm the authenticity of the documents that have circulated in recent days, while specifying that a schedule adjustment has been agreed upon internally. Thus, the actual launch of the work is said to be postponed to May, instead of the initially mentioned month of April.
A new official press release is expected in the coming hours to clarify the precise details of this postponement and its implications.
This readjustment of the schedule illustrates, once again, the structural challenges facing the modernization of airport infrastructures in the DRC, caught between political ambitions and technical realities.
