The International Fair of Kinshasa (Fikin) is struggling. Rehabilitation work on the site has been halted following persistent differences between the Turkish company Milvet and the Congolese party represented by the management committee of this tourist site.
According to sources who confided in the online media NOUVEAUMEDIA.CD, the Turkish company Milvet, responsible for carrying out the work, would go beyond what had been agreed. It would require a 6-hectare camp that would go from the Plazza area to the Fikin esplanade for a 10-year occupation. Fikin officials explain that the Turks would be willing to pay US$60,000 per month for the rental of this space.
It was at the start of the work that the dispute emerged. The Turkish firm’s containers with construction materials were visible on the Fikin site, and the company proceeded to backfill the land. The project provided for large-scale works, the rehabilitation of the site leading to the construction of an exhibition center, an amusement park, a shopping center, a conference center, a exhibition centre, a banquet hall, a hotel and a multifunctional arena with 20,000 seats.
The rehabilitation of the Fikin has a high cost, but the disagreement between Milvet and the management committee comes to expose publicly the haggling which would take place behind the scenes. The ins and outs of the case are still unclear, but one thing is certain: the work of Fikin is not about to resume