DR Congo’s Securiport Contract Sparks Dispute Over Whether US$30 Is a New Airport Tax
Reports about an agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Securiport sparked confusion in November 2025 after excerpts described a US$30 security charge linked to international passengers.
Archive note: the original publication date could not be verified. March 14, 2021 is an assigned catalogue date for this record.
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Reports about an agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Securiport sparked confusion in November 2025 after excerpts described a US$30 security charge linked to international passengers.
The leaked contract material described a plan for border screening technology and a revenue allocation under which the operator would receive 85% of the charge and the Congolese state 15%. Some initial reporting treated the amount as a new levy that would come on top of existing airport charges.
The Ministry of Interior publicly disputed that interpretation. It said no additional charge had been introduced and argued that the security amount was already reflected in the airline ticketing system for qualifying international journeys.
That clarification did not answer every question about how a pre-existing charge would be reassigned, whether the payment mechanism was changing, or what cost passengers would see on their tickets. It did, however, mean that the claim of a newly imposed US$30 supplement was contested and should not be repeated as an established fact.
The clearest way to resolve the dispute is to compare the signed contract, the fee codes on airline tickets, the start date of any collection changes and official revenue remittance instructions.