Kinshasa's Zando Market Reopens as a Modern, Sustainable Trade Hub

Kinshasa’s historic Zando Market reopens in February after a five-year makeover, combining traditional market life with modern sustainable design: a 92,000 sq m complex with 10,000 stalls, 630 shops, rainwater harvesting, and improved safety. The PPP-led project, backed by a SofiBanque loan and built by Think Tank Architecture Paysage Urbanisme with SZTC, aims to revive a cultural backbone that previously drew up to a million shoppers a day, while addressing sanitation and crowding—though critics raised corruption concerns about the contract.