Banana-Kinshasa Atlantic Corridor

The Congo River gives the Democratic Republic of the Congo its only frontage on the Atlantic: a narrow corridor from the deep-water port of Banana, past Matadi, to Kinshasa. Most of the country's trade still passes through its neighbours' ports or along a single ageing road. The corridor is a new road and rail alignment of about 700 kilometres between port and capital, with four or five special economic zones along it to process, store and add value to goods in transit.

Conceived as a transit asset rather than a wager on demand that does not yet exist, it can be financed with the ordinary instruments of development finance and export credit, because its revenues, from port throughput, tolls, rail freight and long-term mineral offtake, can be agreed before construction begins.

Carousel Finance Africa structures the financing and the consortium that will build and operate the corridor, with partners from the European Union, Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council, and designs the legal and commercial framework of its economic zones.