Impact of the exploitation of fine sand in the commune of Kintélé

In the Congo, the exploitation of fine sand for the construction of infrastructures has been a common practice for several decades. In the early 1990s, voices were raised to insist on the need for protection against water erosion. Indeed, the disruption of anthropic balance, hotels, roads, farms to the point of posing a threat to several cities. According to the results of the expertise cabinet in 1981 and the research works of the mining experts of Congo, the water erosion which is more marked in the North of Brazzaville would be aggravated by the annual withdrawal of more than 450 000 cubic meters of sand. Thus, in 2008, aware of the serious danger that the phenomenon of water erosion constitutes on the one hand, and to preserve the credit acquired by the country for the construction of anti-erosion works on the other hand. Based on the environmental assessment carried out by the Congolese Agency for the Environment, the government authorised in 2007 the extraction of sand (river sand, lowland sand) in areas of lesser impact to relieve economic operators and consumers.