The Ministry of Equipment and road maintenance of Congo oversees the roads constructions and maintenance. However, for large scale projects the Delegation for Large Scale Projects (Delegation Générale des Grands Travaux) is in charge.  

The road network in Congo is composed of 23,324 km of which 17,000 km are classified as national, departmental, and routes of local interest while the other 6,234 km are non-classified routes.

The two main roads are the RN1 and RN2. The RN1 links Brazzaville with Pointe-Noire and with its 548 km is now fully completed, asphalted and in very good condition, permitting to reach the ocean in within 9 hours.

The RN2, linking Brazzaville to Ouesso in the North is 820 km long. It is fully paved but some areas are in a bad condition. Presently the time needed to reach Ouesso is about 11 hours.

There are several plans for new constructions mainly financed by the African Development Bank. For example, the transnational route also called corridor 13. This route of an expected length of 1,400 km will be connecting the RN3 Ouesso-Betou to CAR and Cameroun and includes a bridge over the Sangha river. The construction has already started and the complexion is expected for 2021.

Another project sponsored by the ADB is the construction of 440 km of route between Enyelle – Imfondo and Liranga. The statement of work (SoW) of the project has been finalised and the tender will be thrown before the end of the current year 2017.

The soil in Congo with sandy areas and abundant rains during parts of the year make road constructions very expensive. However, there are projects underway financed both by the Government and foreign investors. Most construction works are included in the national transport plan (PNT) covering the period from 2013 to 2023 and including the main projects ongoing. The Ministry of Public Works the Road Funds Management (Direction Générale des Fonds Routier) is responsible for the financing of regular road maintenance and constructions.

Budget constrains are the main cause of the lack of maintenance in certain area of the road network.

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Republic of the Congo Government Contact List.

Distance Matrix

Road Security

Exceeding the speed limit in combination with poor road maintenance, heavy rain and overloaded vehicles are the main causes of accidents. The heavy rains can also cause rapid deterioration of unpaved roads and road equipment. Traffic is scarce outside of Brazzaville and the number of vehicles is generally limited with exception for the RN1 between Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire. Sometimes, even routes with good asphalt conditions can have vegetation invading the road bed and warning panels might be hidden. There is a massive use of road bumps but they are rarely indicated by road panels. The quality of taxis and minibuses is often very low and lack of vehicle road worthiness can also be a cause for accidents. Roads are frequently used by pedestrians and school children, which requires additional caution. Respect from drivers towards vulnerable and unprotected  road users is generally low. City tyres are usable in the major part of the Country but when traveling in muddy forest roads in the North such as in the Likouala region it is highly recommended that vehicles are well equipped with good tyres, spades and winches.

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits

Congo applies the CEMAC rules which are the same as for all the CEMAC countries: the Congo, Cameroon, CAR, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad.

The Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale (CEMAC) “Code Communautaire de la Route” stipulates the maximum permitted load regardless of number of axes at 50 mt.

Road Class and Surface Conditions

The road classification system has been changed after recommendations in a recent study financed by the EU. The new classification system has been implemented since 2012 and can be found here.

The network is divided into 15 national routes (RN) of 5,604 km of which 2,648 km with asphalt, 33 departmental routes (RD) of 2,650 km of which 331 km with asphalt and 14,980 km of routes of local interest and non-classified routes with 132 km with asphalt. The total asphalted routes in the Republic of the Congo is 3,111 km.

The National routes (RN) are usually the principal roads connecting main towns with border points and are managed by the Ministère de l’équipement et de l’entretien routière.

The Departmental Routes (DR) are usually roads connecting departments and national roads with each other and It is also managed by the Ministère de l’équipement et de l’entretien routière

The routes of local interest are local roads within departments and are also managed by the Ministère de l’équipement et de l’entretien routière

The non-classified routes are generally rural roads.