Belgian Congo 67 ] RAILWAYS PROJECTED (d) The Welle Valley Railway, from Bumba on the Congo to Buta on the Itimbiri-Rubi river, thence by the existing motor road to Bambili, and along the Welle to Aba on the Nile - Congo divide. This would be a single line and would open up the rich and thickly populated Welle basin . The permanent way was completed about 1908, but the streams are unbridged, and it is only used for porter traffic. When the Lado enclave (now British ) was administered by the Belgians, this road was continued over the divide to Rejaf on the Nile. This section, which for some years has been used for cart traffic, is rocky and uneven , but has recently been improved by the Sudan Government, and a service of motor lorries has been inaugurated upon it. Since the reversion of the Lado enclave to the Anglo -Egyptian Sudan, the project of a railway seems to have been abandoned. This is regrettable, for an extensive traffic is rapidly developing between the Sudan and the north -eastern territories of the Congo, via Rejab and Aba. The wholesale houses in Khartoum dispatch quantities of goods to Greek and Arab traders in upper Welle, in return for ivory, rubber, hides, &c.

(e) The Irumu Railway, connecting the Lake Albert region with the Congo at Stanleyville. This railway is intended to open up the rich alluvial gold districts of the eastern Welle, and divert the traffic from Kilo and Irumu, which now passes through Uganda to the east coast, towards the Congo and the west. The route has been surveyed and the construction already begun from Stanleyville.

( f) The Lusambo - Kabalo Railway. This line, about 250 miles in length , would unite Lake Tanganyika with the Atlantic by connecting it with the head of the Kasai -Sankuru waterway. It has been surveyed, and is said to cross fairly easy country, following an important caravan route.

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