DRC miners demand power sector reforms

Kinshasa - The Chamber of Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo has called for radical reforms in the country’s power industry after disrupted electricity supplies and lower prices reduced copper output in Africa’s biggest producer of the metal.

Copper production dropped 3% to 995 805 tons in 2015, the Chamber of Mines at the Federation des Entreprises du Congo said in an annual report distributed earlier.

Output in the fourth quarter slumped 12% from the previous year, it said.

Eric Monga, the head of the Katangan branch of Congo’s Chamber of Commerce, said at a conference: "Inadequate and highly non-transparent management by state- owned electricity supply company SNEL is the single biggest factor inhibiting the development of the mining industry."

The chamber said the shortage of electricity in Congo grew to 950 megawatts in 2015 from 542 megawatts a year earlier.