Republic of the Congo

1969 Agip Recherches Congo
1977 Loango start up
1988 Zatchi start up
1998 Kitina start up
1999 Djambala start up
2001  Foukanda and Mwafi start up
2007  Marine XII permit, acquisition of M&P onshore assets, M'Boundi agreement and CEC
2008  acquisition of Burren
2009  Awa Paloukou and Ikalou start up, CPP Marine XII
2010  CEC Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC) start up

Eni has been operating in Congo for many years where, in addition to its traditional business and thanks to its collaboration with the Congolese authorities, it has developed other operations designed to support the country's development.
On 19 May 2008 Eni, together with the Congolese authorities, launched a new cooperation model to integrate the company's traditional operations connected with the exploration and production of hydrocarbons with sustainability operations in the country and important initiatives in the non-conventional oil and renewable energy sectors, including:

• research and exploitation of non-conventional oil;
• the development of agricultural activities aimed at producing food products and biodiesel fuel;
• the construction of a gas-fired electric power station in the area around the Djeno terminal, with the aim of eliminating gas flaring by May 2012.

In conformity with its Code of Ethics, Eni is committed to contributing to improving the quality of life and the socio-economic development of the communities where the company operates, through the promotion of development programmes set up in collaboration with the relevant government ministries and national strategies. As a result of an agreement signed in 2007 with the Congolese Health Ministry and the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, the Eni Foundation launched a healthcare programme aimed at infants centred on the Kento Mwana project, for the prevention of mother/infant–transmitted HIV, and the Salissa Mwana project, for improving infant healthcare through vaccination programmes. The two projects also include the renovation and restructuring of first- and second-level healthcare units.

Based on the experience it gained in Nigeria with the Kwale Okpai power station, eni signed an agreement in 2008 with the Republic of Congo for the construction of electric power stations, with the double objective to produce electricity for the country and eliminate gas flaring by 2012. Eni presented a four-year plan to the Congolese authorities setting out its commitment to eliminating gas flaring by re-using the gas to produce electricity by:
a) constructing 2 electric power stations fuelled by associated gas from Mboundi;
b) re-injecting the remaining part of the gas into the deposit.

The Congo projects are an integral part of the flaring down strategic plan included in eni's industrial plan, which includes reducing the total amount by 2014 by 80% compared with 2007 (baseline year), while it is planned to achieve zero flaring in Congo, and more specifically at M'Boundi, by 2012.

An integrated project to develop gas from the M'Boundi onshore deposit was launched as part of the cooperation plan. The gas, which comes from the Kitina, Djamabala and Foukanda offshore deposits, is collected and transported along the 55-kilometre gas pipeline to the Djeno area, where it contributes to fuelling the 50 MW Centrale Electrique Djeno (CED) and the new Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC), which at December 2010 had a 300 MW capacity that is expected to increase to 450 MW by 2012. In 2008 only 30% of the population of the Republic of Congo had access to electricity and the total amount of electricity available in the country amounted to 150 MW, while together the two power stations currently provide 70% of the country's installed capacity. The electricity produced at the two power stations will be distributed in the Pointe-Noire area, which has a population of approximately 700,000 people. While average pro capita consumption of electricity in Congo is around 137 Kwh per year, the average figure in the Pointe-Noire area in 2009 rose to 350 KWh and 462 KWh in 2010. The Centrale Electrique du Congo is not operated directly by Eni, which holds a 20% stake in the power station while the remaining 80% held by the Congolese government. Eni Power, the subsidiary that constructs and runs Eni power stations in Italy, has its own workforce operating in the country and also offers support to Congolese technicians in optimising power stations. An ad hoc training project offers technicians and engineers from the Congolese national company the opportunity to work in Italy for two years to acquire the skills necessary to manage the project independently.
Eni Power also advises the Congolese government on constructing the Network Code, a collection of technical regulations governing the development of the country's electricity infrastructure. A collaboration agreement was also signed with the Societè Nationale Enérgetique, the Congolese Ministry of Energy and Enel to modernise and update the Pointe-Noire medium- and low-voltage network and the high-voltage line between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville, the country's capital. The construction of medium-voltage stations will ensure that electricity will be supplied not just to the main Congolese cities, but also to numerous smaller towns.
Eni is investing in the construction and renovation of advanced hospital structures in Congo-B.

Main projects for accessing electricity in Congo

Diagram of the integrated project for providing access to electricity in Congo.

861 people were employed in Congo at 31 December 2010, including 128 expatriates, in addition to 5,984 provided by external companies for a total of 6,576 people working for eni in Congo.

The agreements signed in February 2008 with the Congolese government for the bituminous or tar sand project resulted in Eni being awarded two exploration permits in April 2008 at Tchikatanga and Tchikatanga-Makola, with the relative government decree published in the official Congolese Gazette. Following an initial meeting held in July 2008 with representatives from local communities, regular meetings have taken place with the local population to illustrate the operations carried out by Eni.
At the present time, the only definite project underway concerns the opening of a small pilot quarry at Dionga to demonstrate the feasibility of using tar sand for paving Congolese roads, an operation that the Congolese state expressly asked Eni to carry out in an attempt to reduce the use of costly industrial bitumen (even though the company does not usually carry out this type of operation).

In order to ensure that these operations conform to the highest standards of best practices, particularly from the environmental point of view, Eni launched a pilot project to evaluate the sustainability of the initiative. An environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) was carried out that identified the Dionga site as being suitable for the operations, and the results of this study were presented to the relative ministries in January 2010 and validated by the Ministerial Environmental Commission on 27 March of the same year. The site was chosen because it fulfilled the environmental and social requirements compatible with the operations. In accordance with law decree 415/2009, a public conference was held in Hinda on 17 April 2010 to which all the stakeholders effected by the project were invited, as part of the public inquiry phase during which the results of the environmental impact study, the pilot quarry project and the subsequent environmental restoration project were presented.

The Dionga pilot quarry project was completed in 2010: the tar sand extracted from the quarry (7,059 cubic meters) started in May 2010 and was completed in October 10. The tar sands extracted have been entirely used for road paving operation, also thanks to Eni's donation to the Congolese government of a tar-laying machine purchased in Italy and capable of transforming tar sand into road tar. Maximum attention has been dedicated to environmental and biodiversity protection: the pilot site has been completely restored through geological remodelling and replanting activities.

Operations aimed at producing crude oil are, however, still in the exploration phase and consist of studying and collecting data from sounding holes in order to evaluate the quality, thickness and distribution of the tar sand. Should the study produce positive results, the next phase will consist of producing a small-scale pilot project, utilising the various forms of extraction technology that are best suited to the local ecosystem. At this point an environmental and social impact assessment will be carried out and an eventual development project will be drawn up, based on a time-scale normal for this type of project.
Tar sand operations in Congo will only be given the go-ahead after rigorous feasibility studies have been carried out, and if such operations commence Eni's fundamental operating principles will be guaranteed and areas where a rich biodiversity exists and primary forest areas will be excluded.
In addition, the operational techniques being considered exclude open-cast mining and the creation of tailing ponds, both of which are considered to have a high-risk impact and both of which are used in oil sand operations in Canada.

Work began on restoring the M'Boundi site to its original environmental state, using simple nature engineering techniques to reconstruct the vegetation.

As part of initiatives to promote cultural and environmental assets in Congo, Eni implemented a procedure to support a UNESCO project for the creation of a geo-park at the culturally and environmentally important Diosso Gorge site.

Since 2009, a series of initiatives have been carried out to combat erosion in some of the areas around the platforms in the M'Boundi oilfield, including the restoration of the environment and countryside around the onshore sites in the area. The aim of the initiatives, which are currently being carried out, is to restore the sites to their original state.

Eni's commitment in Congo to the conservation of the country's ecosystems and biodiversity includes efforts to gain recognition of the Diosso Gorge site (UNESCO project) as a geo-park. Eni is working on the bureaucratic procedures for this process with a local association and the proposal was presented to the Ministry of Sustainable Development, while a meeting about it was held in Brazzaville on 30 and 31 October 2009 and the initiative was presented at an Open Day on 8 December 2009.
In January 2010, Eni Congo was invited to attend two international conventions:

• "Atelier de lancement du Processus REDD in Congo", an international initiative under the aegis of the United Nations, the World Bank and the Ministry of Sustainability (21-22 January 2010), and
• "The integrated management of mangrove ecosystems and other humid coastal zones and forests in Congo" (27-28 January 2010).

In July 2010, Eni and Fauna & Flora International (FFI) visited the sites of Eni Congo projects. The visits included meetings held at the general quarters in Pointe-Noire and visits to the M'Boundi and Dionga oilfields and the Djeno IPP plant, while air- and land-based surveys were carried out along the length of the oil pipeline linking M'Boundi and Djeno. The aim of the visit was to analyse the level of risk to the biodiversity and ecosystem services (SBRA) in order to confirm and integrate the previous assessment level (HBRA), and to test the biodiversity integration methodology in the area and the ecosystem services that are part of E&P Operational Practises Worldwide (IBOW).

In order to guarantee continuous dialogue with the local population in Congo, Eni is committed to maintaining:

• good relations with representatives of local communities and authorities and representatives of civil society (the Pointe-Noire dioceses and town council, the Kuoilou and Pointe-Noire Prefect and deputy Prefect, village heads, etc.);
• an integrated approach not just to industrial development but also to local and human  development in support of development programmes in the country (e.g. electricity power stations, electricity supply networks, healthcare and school programmes, and agricultural projects);
• dialogue with local populations (through, amongst other things, the opening of a listening centre in the areas where Eni operates) and the various associations in the areas in question;
• a study  (which was due to be completed by the summer of 2010), implemented by an international NGO (AVSI), designed to develop an efficient, operational plan for reducing risk.

In Congo 6 people are directly employed in the unit for dealing with community relations while another 2 people, who come from the Kouilou region and therefore speak the local dialect, operate directly in the field and are responsible for facilitating on-site communications. In 2010, in agreement with communities in the village of M'Boundi, a "listening point" (Maison d'Ecoute) was set up together with an e-mail address for collecting requests from local communities and organising public meetings to deal with criticisms and problems that arise.

Since 2008, campaigns have been launched to listen directly to the population through meetings, periodic dialogue sessions (at least one a month) and updating sessions with representatives of Eni and the heads of the 6 villages involved in the M'Boundi onshore area, together with representatives of the areas where operations are carried out, representatives from CDJP, CARITAS, Medicin d'Afrique, the International Partnership for Human Development and the agricultural management department.

On 30 April 2010, eni Congo signed a partnership agreement with six NGOs for the benefit of local communities. These NGOs act as the interface between Eni Congo and the local population in matters dealing with a series of initiatives dealing with communication between the company and local people, protecting the environment and environmental education.
The NGOs involved are Médecines d'Afrique, Renatura, IPHD, Commission Diocésaine Justice et Paix/Caritas, Espace Créateurs and Help

Given the high level of sensitivity to operations connected to oil extraction, gas flaring and tar sand and palm oil projects, the international community, and in particular a number of environmental organisations (the Böll Foundation, Friends of the Earth and Rain Forest Action) and human rights associations (Responsabilità Etica, CRBM, Bank Track, Commission J&P, Misereor, RPDH and Secours Catholique), began investigating some of Eni operations. As a result of this, Eni has had meetings with representatives of these associations and provided transparent responses to demands for in-depth explanations and more information. In October 2009, the Oxford Centre for Corporate Responsibility paid a visit to Congo in order to launch a case study on the application of the "Eni model" in the country and on the company's onshore operations.

In the Republic of the Congo, partly in response to a new Decree implementing environmental protection legislation (decree no. 2009-415 of 20/11/2009), the results of ESIA tests are made public and discussed with the stakeholders involved. The Decree contains strict, specific rules which mirror established international standards and to which all companies operating in the country must adhere to. On the basis of these regulations, the responsibility for ensuring that public consultations take place and that ESIA results are published is down to government authorities, who are also responsible for ensuring transparency and that all the parties involved in new projects are called on to participate. 
ESIA studies dealing with onshore and offshore projects are submitted to the relevant ministries. The projects submitted also include those dealing with the exploitation of tar sand such as the Djonga quarry project, the details of which were submitted in January and approved in March 2010. The most recent projects and/or operations are as follows:

• 2D seismic survey campaign in the south-east area of the Kouilou exploration permit;
• Laying a 16" gas pipeline between Mboundi and Djeno (for CEC and CED );
• Laying a 24'' pipeline for transporting sea water from Djeno to Mengo and Mboundi;
• Mongo Kamba electricity sub-station and Pointe-Noire/Brazzaville high-voltage electricity power line;
• Construction of gas-fired thermo-electrical power station in the Cote Mateve area (CEC) with an installed voltage of 300 MW expandable to 450 MW;
• Opening of Col du Lac Kitina tar sand quarry;
• Opening of Dionga – Carrière B tar sand quarry.

With reference to the project for utilising tar sand for paving roads, following a request from the Congolese government, Eni was asked to participate in the project in order to guarantee that the operations conformed to the highest standards of best practice, particularly from the environmental point of view.
With reference to relations with local communities, Eni has always involved local communities before, during and after all its operations. More specifically, meetings were held with the Dionga/Mboukou village committee, the local population and representatives of CDJP in order to organise the environmental restoration phase at the Dionga site and the agricultural cultivation project in the surrounding areas.
In particular, the study of the environmental impact of opening the Dionga quarry was sent to the relevant ministries (environment, hydrocarbons and mining) in January 2010, and subsequently the Technical Assessment Commission (which included the participation of representatives from the Environmental Ministry and from civil society) approved the study on 27 March 2010. In accordance with the new legislative decree (415/2009), a public conference was held in Hinda on 17 April 2010 for all the stakeholders involved in the project, during which the study of the environmental impact of opening the quarry was presented together with the project to restore the environment to its original state after completion of operations. Before work commenced, a traditional ceremony was held on 19 March 2010 in the area of the site in the presence of the local population and authorities.
In April 2009, a Health Impact Assessment was carried out to assess the impact of operations on the health of local communities in the M'boundi-Mengo-Djeno area, as part of the project to eliminate gas flaring and to construct a pipeline to transport gas from M'Boundi to the electric power station at Djeno. The aim of the assessment was to reinforce assistance services for the local population by promoting improved coordination between public and private stakeholders working in the Congolese healthcare sector and defining a management model for the healthcare services, which could also be extended to other structures in the area. The study was carried out in a preliminary form by means of an analysis of the specific context, an assessment of the potential impact on the health of local communities and the definition of a plan for preventive treatment. 
In October 2010, a Social and Health Baseline Analysis (SHBA) was completed, together with the relative Social and Health Impact Assessment (SHIA), regarding the potential impact of current and future operations in the M'Boundi area. The aim of the work carried out by the Fondazione AVSI and CERGAS/Bocconi (consultancy dedicated to the healthcare part), in close cooperation with Eni Congo, the Eni Foundation and local consultants, was to improve understanding of the social context of the areas where onshore core business operations are carried out (Kouilou region) and to implement a community investment plan that responds in an efficient, structured manner to requests from local communities.
In particular the process produced the following:

• a detailed analysis of the socio-economic, cultural and healthcare context, based on desktop data (secondary data) and data collected on site (primary data). This study resulted in the identification of local expectations and needs, and the highlighting of critical areas
• the first identification, categorisation and analysis of Eni Congo stakeholders
• a Social and Health Impact Assessment, containing a description of the effects of operations carried out by Eni Congo in the study area and the possible actions that could be taken to mitigate these effects. The study included socio-economic and cultural questions, as well as questions of healthcare and the environment, and the impacts were analysed and assessed based on a specially designed matrix. The study also included an analysis of current and potential impacts, together with an analysis of  stakeholders' perceptions of the effects caused by Eni's oil and gas operations and, more generally, by industrial operations in the area.
• "problem trees" and "logical frameworks" are two instruments that highlight the criticality and the opportunities deriving from the context and impact analyses, and identify the possible areas for social investments and the objectives to achieve.

The study did not reveal the presence of an indigenous Indian population in the Eni onshore areas.
As part of the community development plan, the Fondazione AVSI will be responsible for following the implementation of activities in the socio-economic, socio-educational and animation areas.

At the end of 2009, Eni Congo carried out a Human Rights Compliance Assessment (HRCA) on itself that resulted in a final report being drawn up by the Danish Institute for Human Rights, which collaborated on the project.
Over 70% of the recommendations proposed by the Danish Institute for Human Rights were translated into actions designed to introduce improvements, some of which have already been implemented including a specific plan of action that was developed by Eni Congo and presented to Eni Corporate in November 2010 for ensuring that these activities are correctly followed-up and monitored.
The plan of action referred to above also includes the integration of human rights principles into safety policies and procedures (adoption of voluntary principles, number and type of training courses on safety and human rights).

The main aim of the Palm Oil project in Congo is to develop the agricultural sector and the project represents an important opportunity to diversify the local economy, which at present is strongly tied to oil, and is part of a national development plan designed to reduce  dependency on supplies of palm oil from abroad. The objective is to reinforce the country's agricultural capacity by developing large-scale cultivation of palm oil for both the national and international food markets. In this context, Eni's role is essentially that of a technical consultant to the Ministry of Agriculture, identifying the most suitable areas and technology for producing palm oil and offering advice on setting up consortiums to manage the project.

This project, which is currently in the feasibility study phase, includes the production of vegetable oil mainly for food uses, while the implementation phase will be preceded by an ESHIA (Environmental, Social, Health Impact Assessment), carried out in agreement with local institutions. This assessment will evaluate the sustainability and feasibility of the project for the production of palm oil for food purposes based on internationally defined criteria and on Eni's Code of Ethics.

The operational model that will be used is based on adopting best agricultural practices, introducing up-to-the-minute mechanisation and technology, developing managerial skills and promoting research and development activities (also in collaboration with international research centres). In this way, these projects can help to create in loco the expertise and skills necessary for consolidating a modern agro-industrial sector, which will undoubtedly have positive side effects on the living conditions of the rural population.

The project will be managed on a consortium basis (Eni may eventually participate in the consortium with a maximum stake of 10%), and will be open to both public and private partners. The project is being developed in conformity with sustainability criteria dealing with preserving soil and biodiversity and mitigating its social and environmental impact, in accordance with international regulations and sustainability criteria (RSPO, RSB, EU).

The project is part of local sectorial policies, aimed at prioritising the food needs of local and national markets. An important part in evaluating the project is to analyse the sustainability of palm oil production and the eventual transformation and refining of any excess production into biodiesel. This analysis will be accompanied by a life-cycle assessment of the product, concentrating on the emission of greenhouse gases in the cultivation, transformation and market distribution phases.

Following the signing of a protocol between Eni Congo and the Republic of Congo, on 24 November 2008 the Comité de Suivi (CdS) and the Groupe de Travail (GdT) were set up, composed of members of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farming and representatives from Eni.

Throughout 2009 (June, July, August and October) a number of missions were carried out to collect support data for the feasibility study.

In February an FAO mission went to Congo to evaluate the potential of the project, and as part of the mission Eni Congo organised an official meeting to present the project and a field visit to the Mbé site, in the Pool region.

The project identified two areas of possible interest, one in the Kibangou district, situated in the Niari valley, and the other in the Ngabé district, situated in the Mbé plateau area. The two areas are covered in grassy-shrubby savannah and have around 5,000 residents each, and they were chosen because they both have primary and secondary forests, agricultural areas, humid areas, hilly areas and urbanised areas.
Eni has always involved local communities before, during and after all the operations it has carried out in the area, and the construction of palm oil plantations will not involve agricultural areas destined for traditional cultivation used for feeding the local population.

Since 2000, Eni has been involved in improving the health and living conditions of the population through partnerships with the government, local communities and also, since 2008, through the Eni foundation. The initiatives range from specific small-scale projects to large-scale programmes which, together with the National Health Development plan, are part of a wide-ranging health development plan for the country. The first of these initiatives was taken by Eni in response to a direct request from the country to support and help isolated rural communities. In these regions Eni has been involved in an number of smaller individual projects (such as developing the Dolisie hospital structure), and in more complex projects as part of the plan to introduce MDG into the country. Two important projects connected to this plan are: Salissa Mwana (protect the children), which was launched in 2007 and aims to improve healthcare assistance for infants through a vast programme of vaccinations and monitoring in order to combat the main infant diseases in isolated rural communities in the Kouilou, Niari and Cuvette regions, where there is a target population of 200,000 children between the ages of 0 and 5 (30% of the country's total infant population); Kento Mwana (mother child), which aims to reduce to 2-3% the vertical transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus from mothers to children in the same areas covered by the Salissa Mwana project, on a target population of 65,000 mother-child couples. By 2010, approximately 180,000 vaccinations had been administered to children, with 83% of the area covered (villages covered/total villages).
Over 12,800 pregnant women have been tested for HIV and 518 seropositive women are currently involved in the Kento Mwana project, with a result of less than 1% of HIV mother-child transmission in the couples treated (an improvement on the objective of 2%).
In January 2011, a delegation composed of top officials from the Congolese Ministry of Health  visited some of the healthcare structures involved in the Salissa Mwana project in the Kouilou and Cuvette regions. The Congolese Minister of Health subsequently declared that the development model "will be used as a reference standard for future healthcare programmes in the country".

In the district of Hinda, Eni Congo is renovating a Health Centre (Centre de Santé Intégré) and another healthcare centre dedicated to local personnel. This public structure is capable of treating around 3,000 people who live in the rural areas around the village of Diosso, and the project was launched in May 2010 with an investments of $350,000. The Health Centre (CSI) will be provided with a fresh water well and medical equipment ($82,000 of investment), while Eni Congo will also provide medical equipment for the "A. Sice Hospital" in Pointe-Noire and equip an 8-bed intensive care unit. The company also supplied a fully-equipped ambulance and medical equipment for an emergency unit at the "R. Sice hospital" (following the railway disaster that took place on the Pointe Noire-Dolisie line in June 2010).
Total investments for these projects amounted to $350,000. Apart from the projects mentioned above, Eni Congo has made a logistics contribution to the anti-polio vaccination programme, where three phases have been distributed to the rural and urban population.

Eni is actively involved in contributing to national development programmes, where the company promotes development in the M'Boundi area in order to integrate the need to set up industries with the need/right to human development in the local communities where these industrial activities are carried out. Since Eni commenced onshore operations in Congo, a number of programmes have been launched in key development sectors, aimed at developing local potential and improving the quality of life.

Infrastructure projects
Drilling water wells for the inhabitants of villages has highlighted such serious technical and environmental limits that the validity of adopting such an approach to solving the need for water has been called into doubt. A recent land survey of the state of pumping systems in villages has further emphasised these limits.

As a result of these findings, alternatives to using well water were examined and shared with committees from the villages around the M'Boundi site. The proposal to distribute water from a water tanker is only a temporary solution while water containers and/or drinking water tanks are being installed in the villages, according to the necessity and the population density involved. During October and November 2009, a total of 8 meetings were held with 6 village committees, with two representatives from the Medicin d'Afrique NGO also present to offer technical support, and an evaluation study of the water needs was then drawn up with the cooperation of the NGO.

Support for the education system consists in renovating existing school buildings and supplying school equipment and didactic materials. A contract was drawn up to renovate the school canteen at the Tchibanda-Mboukou school, and work started on this project in April 2010.

Local agricultural support projects
The agricultural sector is extremely important both for providing help to feed the local population and for marketing the products. Eni therefore intends to make substantial investments in this sector by providing training courses, offering incentives to increase production and diversify crops and supporting small businesses. As part of this initiative, the cassava project was launched in partnership with Caritas, the Loudima Agronomic Research Centre and the Kouilou Agricultural Department to increase cassava production, which is the staple food in rural areas. The project includes planting approximately twenty types of cassava donated by CRAL, and setting up management committees, made up of local farmers, responsible for running the experimental operations. These management committees will be created with the support of Caritas.

6 management committees were set up (M'Boukou, Pondila, Tchicanou, Bondi, Tchicoulou and Tchimboussi), each one of which is composed of 20 farmers who are responsible for managing a demonstration field of approximately 5,000 square metres, for a total of 3 hectares. 6 varieties of cassava were planted in the 6 demonstration fields, together with the leguminous Mucuna plant, while a further 22 varieties of cassava and Mucuna were planted in an "experimental" field. At the end of January the fields were hoed and weeded and also re-fenced (under the supervision of CARITAS and DDAK). In 2010, with the arrival of the rainy season, peanuts and soya were planted in the project fields.
The PVS method produced 4 cassava crops, enough to satisfy local needs, while in 2011 the first crop amounted to 1.2 tons, with a productivity of between 1.5 and 25 t/ha depending on the variety of plant.

Education support projects
These initiatives are implemented in accordance with the plans drawn up by the Ministry of Education, based on needs expressed by local authorities.
The project aims to support and reinforce the local education system by renovating the local school infrastructure.
Initiatives:

• renovation of the M'Boukou primary school buildings (2008),
• distribution of didactic materials and school supplies (800) to schools in the Hinda district (2007 and 2008),
• distribution of 500 school desks to schools in the Hinda district (2008),
• renovation of the Criste Roi parochial school in Loanjili (2010).

The construction of a canteen at the M'Boukou school (with the capacity to produce 300 meals per day) is in the final phase.

Congo joined EITI in 2004 and in 2008 the country has been accepted as "candidate for the implementation of the initiative" by EITI's Board of Directors. With a view to implementing the initiative in the country in 2006, a presidential decree was issued that foresaw the creation of an Executive Committee, of which Eni has been a member together with the other oil companies, civil society and Government representatives. In order to become a permanent member of the EITI and pass the validation process (in 2010) Congo, in February 2008, developed and approved an Action Plan (2008-2010) that:

• makes public and accessible the state's revenues from petroleum production and mining (the oil sector accounts for more than 80% of the state's income) and, in general, all revenues received by the state from companies operating in the extraction sector;
• foresees independent auditing and certification of state accounts and those of the government bodies and, in general, companies operating in the country; 
• will produce a reconciliation by an independent body of the state's revenues with the payments made by oil companies;
•  will promote active involvement in civil society;  
•  will raise finance for the implementation of the Plan.

In August 2009 , Congo issued its first Oil Revenues Conciliation Report ( 2004 -2006)

Downloadable documents

• Eni Congo – NGOs agreement

  Download Attachment 6.37 Mb

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