In 1942, the Belgian colonial authority, Governor Schollaert was asked to build a two-way lane bridge in Dungu, the north-eastern-most corner of the Congo, in the Oriental province. Next stop across the border of South Soudan. The deepest, most remote post.
The bridge still stands today.
A proud witness of the colonial infrastructure? For sure.
Except that… the bridge has only one lane. Not the two lanes that were planned, ordered and paid for.
One lane instead of two means half of the bricks and manpower could be allocated to an overwhelmingly more pressing public building: a Castle. And not any old structure, a true Castle Rapunzel-upon-Dungu, complete with pseudo-medieval crenelations, neo-Gothic spires and vaulted windows.
Was it for tourism? Defence? Or nostalgia for the spires of Belgium? Probably more like corruption unbound. Just looking at the pictures, you can imagine Apocalypse Now’s Kurtz lurking in its shadows: “the horror, the horror”.
And there it still stands today, poking out of the jungle, abandoned and overgrown. Dungu Castle, a standing monument to proud corrupt public management. A history lesson for local public authorities, then and now.
80 years later, Google Maps shows the bridge just South of the castle, on the R420. It still has just a single lane.
Clik here to view.
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The post What Does Africa Need: Bridges or Castles? appeared first on MNOI.
