President Denis Sassou N’Guesso inaugurated the connection on August 11, marking the completion of a 14-km, 220 kV transmission line from Djiri to Maloukou and a 220/33/22 kV substation. China Machinery Engineering Corporation carried out the project, with the state financing the infrastructure at a reported cost of 16.57 billion FCFA, alongside funding for expropriation.

The connection addresses one of the key infrastructure constraints that has held back the industrial park's full operation. The Maloukou site contains 16 industrial units and was developed with infrastructure and factories originally constructed by Brazilian company Asperbras. The park was subsequently placed under concession to Macefield Congo Ventures, a Congolese subsidiary of Crystal Ventures, to develop, operationalize and operate the site.

The August commissioning marks a shift from building the physical platform to making its industrial capacity productive. President Sassou N’Guesso also visited Eco-Camaco's tractor assembly facility during the ceremony, where tractors were being assembled, providing an early example of industrial activity at the site.

A New Investment Framework

Maloukou is part of Congo's broader effort to use special economic zones to accelerate industrialization and attract private investment. The country has four designated SEZs – Pointe-Noire, Oyo-Ollombo, Ouesso and Ignié – with the latter encompassing the Maloukou industrial park.

The investment framework was strengthened by Law No. 17-2025 of July 2025, which established the legal, fiscal, customs and foreign-exchange regime for SEZs. For approved investors, the law provides a range of fiscal and customs incentives, including exemption from corporate income tax and the special corporate tax for the first 10 years, renewable for a further five years subject to the law's reinvestment conditions.

Congo's 2026 Finance Law subsequently integrated the fiscal and customs regime established under the 2025 SEZ law into the General Tax Code and Customs Code. Separately, the 2026 tax framework provides for an investment tax credit of up to 15% of eligible expenditure on qualifying materials, equipment, tools and commercial or industrial buildings, with unused credit potentially carried forward for five years.

The government has begun putting that framework into practice. In 2026, Industry Minister Michel Djombo issued the first formal SEZ approvals to investors including Prestige Hygiene Products, which is developing a hygiene-products factory in the Loango zone near Pointe-Noire, and SEDIC, an infrastructure-development operator.

From Infrastructure to Industry

Maloukou's development illustrates the infrastructure requirements behind Congo's industrialization strategy. The government has invested in electricity and other enabling infrastructure, while Macefield Congo Ventures, the Crystal Ventures subsidiary holding the concession, has been responsible for developing and operating the industrial park. Earlier government planning identified the availability of stable, dedicated and high-quality power as a key challenge to the zone's development.

The newly commissioned grid connection is intended to address that constraint and support the operation of the park's industrial units. The site already includes production facilities for construction materials and the Eco-Camaco tractor assembly operation, while the government has said further industrial units are expected to be developed.

That makes Maloukou a test of whether investment in enabling infrastructure and the country's new SEZ regime can translate into sustained industrial activity, employment and local value addition. The park has already created 612 jobs, according to reporting around the August commissioning, with the government now looking to expand industrial activity beyond the existing facilities.

Whether that next phase of investment follows will be among the issues on the agenda at the Congo Energy & Investment Forum 2027, taking place in Brazzaville from June 1–3, 2027.