1.    AVIATION
2.    GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)
3.    LOGISTICS COORDINATION


1.    AVIATION

> Follow up of the air safety evaluation

UNJLC paid visits to the six evaluated companies from 24 March to 13 April 2006 in order to assess the implementation of recommendations made to each air carrier.
The said air carriers have expressed their willingness to catch up with the standards required for the post-evaluation.

To date, one air carrier seems to be ready for the post-evaluation; the five remaining air carriers shall be ready within three months minimum; since some recommendations are costly and require an important investment in terms of time.

UNJLC will forward a report on the air carriers visited to the IATA experts who conducted the evaluation so as to keep them informed and also in order to provide the air carriers with tools or advice.

> European Union Black list

During the meetings between UNJLC and the air carriers that will undergo the post-evaluation, a strong reaction provoked by the list of air carriers banned in Europe released by  the European Union on 23 March was noticeable.

The EU does not pass judgement directly on the Congolese air carriers but rather on the fact that they are registered in a member state of ICAO(International Civil Aviation Organisation) where that international organisation's regulations are not enforced.

ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations resulting from the Chicago Convention ratified in 1944. To date, 189 states are signatories to that agreement.

Its role is to set standards, recommended practices and international procedures in the technical fields of aviation. Each member state has to enforce ICAO regulation on its territory.
For further information on ICAO, please visit:
http://www.icao.int/cgi/goto_m_f.pl?icao/fr/aimstext_f.htm#Facilitation

> Air transport for the humanitarian community

In order to address the concern expressed by the humanitarian community and on the request of the Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Ross Mountain, a survey has been conducted in October 2005. It was aimed at identifying needs and problems faced in air transport for the humanitarian community. That survey enabled to estimate to what extent the offer of air services meets the demand.

The upcoming elections as well as important changes foreseen in the activities of humanitarian air transport operators could lead to changes of the schedules as from mid may.

In order to address the possible consequences of these changes and to assess the balance between the appropriateness of air services countrywide, UNJLC, together with WFP HAS and other humanitarian air operators is in the process to re-assess the demand of air transport. 

In that respect, a questionnaire has been forwarded to the humanitarian community on 11 April 2006. The synthesis of results should be done by 30 April.

> New schedules available on UNJLC website

WFP-HAS has forwarded the schedules of its flights as from 15 May. ECHO Flight has also transmitted its schedules as well as the procedures to follow in the order to have access to its new air services.  Those documents are available on UNJLC website via www.unjlc.org/DRC/air_ops


2.    GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)

> Partnerships with national institutions

• Office des Routes have passed an excel file on to UNJLC. That document describes the conditions of the national roads network. That information was entered into the common GIS database. National roads have been classified in five categories :

• Good : road passable on the entire stretch
• Quite good : the road is passable in general
• Bad : Some stretches are very bad
• Very bad : the main part of the stretch is in bad condition
• Impassable : The stretch is on the whole impassable( nonexistent bridges, roadblocks)
  

That data enabled to draw a map highlighting the national roads conditions and the various road rehabilitation projects. That information will soon be validated by the infrastructure cell of the ministry of public works.

• RVF received an A0 format map of navigable waterways and railroads which is currently under review prior to validate it. RVF is about to start the implementation of a project consisting in the positioning of fixed and mobile beacons. That project will enable to have information on the state of quays and the quantity of available cranes for each port. UNJLC and RVF have put forward a possible formalization of the transfer of that information towards the database specific to each area. In that respect, a specifications document has been forwarded to RVF. The database manager would enter the data in the common database; in return, RVF would receive the updated files.

 > Dissemination of the database and training

• UNJLC intends to propose installing the database as well as software which enables to display, to consult and make simple searches on the data to all GIS Working Group partners. That proposal is not meant at modifying the functioning of the organisations which are partners, but to familiarize them with the data and tools and to have them more involved as they are the future users. That first deployment task will first be performed at Office des Routes and Régie des Voies Fluviales.
• UNJLC also proposes training sessions that would allow using the common database as an interactive tool. A survey is being conducted in order to organize that training session in Kinshasa and Goma. The aim is to enable as many humanitarian actors as possible to use the database independently and to involve them in its constant update. In the absence of a decentralized government or state framework, the maintenance of such a database by the involvement of humanitarian actors at a local level and strengthened updates circuit.
  

> Maintenance of the common database

• Data on air services have been removed from the common database (administrative subdivision, cities and villages, transport network) and transferred to the thematic database.
• UNJLC GIS unit is comparing its data with the information contained by the general map drawn by the University of Louvain (Belgium). That university's database is mainly made up of Africover data (for networks) which consists in spatial images (Land sat) digitized.
• In addition to the identification, the classification of road network relies on the typology of roads resulting from the map of dioceses. In that respect, The GIS Working Group was faced with a problem of reference and a meeting gathering MONUC, OCHA and UNJLC were held to address the issue of comparison of data coming from spatial images to data coming from old maps digitized. Despite the fact that for the North of the country, a similarity between both databases is noticeable, the similarity for the west of the country is more difficult to observe. However, the identification by remote sensing enabled a better representation of the reality of the field.
• UNJLC has started a comparison of both databases. Nothing will be modified or removed from the common database. The typology will be reviewed so as to get closer to the results of the remote sensing work done by the Belgian University of Louvain. The classification of type of roads will be as follows :
  

• paved road
• unpaved road
• country road
• tracks
• Path, element that cannot be seen by remote sensing will be classified as paths.

The work done with local partners and national institutions will enable a continuous update of the database.

> Maintenance of the thematic database

• Data on air services have been inserted in the database
• UN agencies (UNHCR, OCHA, etc…) will be requested to provide their specific data.

> Mapping

• A map on the state of roads and rehabilitation projects have been drawn in collaboration with Office des Routes. The map is being validated by the infrastructure cell of the ministry of public works.
• A map of waterways is being validated by Régie des Voies Fluviales.
  

> Website

• The first database update is downloadable via www.unjlc.org.  A password can be provided by UNJLC upon request. A first list of organisations and people entitled to have access to the database have been set up and a login password was forwarded to them.  A user manual can also be downloaded via the same address.
• All maps produced are available online except those that are being corrected or validated.

3.    LOGISTICS COORDINATION

• >Progress of the sub Working-Groups work.

Procurement Sub Working Group

The databases of items, services and vendors are in the process of being finalized.

Cargo transport sharing web platform project

The web based platform of information exchange on cargo transport is being developed. The first version should be available in May.

Common UN agencies fuel supply project

The requirements of UN agencies for 2006 and 2007 have been compiled by the sub Working Group. 11 UN agencies have accepted a joint procurement of fuel.
Discussions with MONUC are underway in order to seek its assistance. MONUC is a key player in the DRC for fuel issues.  Given overall volumes purchased, unit price will allow UN agencies to save money dedicated to fuel procurement.

• >Logistics cluster meeting

The 4th Logistics cluster meeting took place on 25 April in Kinshasa under the chairmanship of WFP.
A Logistics cluster meeting chaired by UNJLC also took place in Goma on 19 April.  The next Goma Logistics cluster meeting will be held on 24 May at 02.30 P.M.
UNJLC will participate to the Lubumbashi Logistics Cluster meeting to be held on 4 May after a first mission on the field from 27 to 29 April.