1. INTRODUCTION
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The Congo River, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire), is the second longest river in Africa after the Nile, and the fifth longest in the world. About 4,374 km (2,718 miles) long, the Congo is formed by the junction of the Lualaba and Luvua rivers at Ankoro in the province of Katanga, in southeast of the DRC. It then flows North to Stanley Falls near Kisangani, just North of the Equator, where it loops north-west up to Bumba, and then south-west to the South Atlantic Ocean. Lisala is about 100 km downstream of Bumba. There, the Congo River is divided into two branches surrounding the Esumba Island. The Congo River is part of the boundary between the Republic of Congo and the DRC, and Angola and the DRC. With its numerous tributaries, including the Ubangui River, the chief northern tributary, and the Kasai River, the chief southern tributary, the Congo provides the main transportation artery in Central Africa. The Congo River Basin drains 3822000 km 2 (more than 1.47 million sq. miles) of land; 62% of which are in the DRC, and the remainder is shared out by its neighbouring countries and mainly: the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Central Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola and Cameroon.
The Congo River and most of its tributaries are navigable to all types of river crafts in most of their sections. Nevertheless, some sections of the Congo River are not navigable. These obstacles are distributed as follows:
- From Busanga to Bukama there are several falls.
- From Bukama to Kongolo the Congo River is navigable.
- From Kongolo to Kindu (305-kin) there are five rapids called "Portes d'Enfer" (Gates of Hell).
- From Kindu to Ubundu, the river is navigable (315-km).
- From Ubundu to Kisangani there are seven cataracts (the Stanley Falls) on a section of 150-km.
- From Kisangani to Kinshasa, no impediment to navigation (1700-km).
- From Kinshasa to Matadi (344-km), only a central section of 131-km is navigable although it contains 13 rapids. The first 132-km called Northern Cataracts comprise 30 rapids. The last 81-km named Southern Cataracts are made of 23 falls and rapids. It is in the southernmost of them that are erected the Inga dams a short distance from Matadi.
- Below Matadi, the river is navigable to the sea, about 134-km (about 83 miles) away. Moanda is the town in the edge of the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Congo River.
The DRC has by far the largest hydro potential in Africa, and among the largest of any country in the world. Its gross theoretical hydro potential is 1397 TWh/year and its technically feasible potential is 774000 GWh/year (representing about 100 GW). Both these figures were evaluated in June 1997. The economically feasible potential was calculated in October 1991 to be 419210 GWh/year (based on sites in operation, studied, and inventoried assuming a 100 % load factor). In 1997, only 4835GWh of electricity were produced in the DRC. Less than 1% of the technically feasible potential has been developed. A number of new hydro plants are planned for the future, for example the large schemes at Inga (8000 to 42000MW) to supply Egypt and South Africa via long distance transmission lines (Inga-Aswan, and Congo-Angola - Namibia- South Africa).
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