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Background: One of the companies making important contributions to Congo-Kinshasa's housing programme is the "Societe ETERNIT du Congo" which turns out asbestos-cement products for the building trade. Precast roo_fing sections and sheeting are produced with Congolese cement and Canadian asbestos.

Carefully measured quantities of Asbestos and cement are ground together and mixed with purified water into a binding paste. Pressed into a continuous layer of the required thickness, a broad strip of the substance is then cut into sheets of various sizes and carried on to the next stage processing in an assembly line operation.

Here the still wet sheets are passed to the corrugating bench where, by compression moulding, they receive the undulating shape needed for roofing purposes.

Since 1947, more than 20 million square metres of this rot and fire proof roofing material have been produced by the company for national consumption. Output at the movement runs at 11 million square metres per annum and involves 250 Congolese technicians.

Following new investments in the company, the Kinshasa ETERNIT plant now produced structural roofing sections in asbestos-cement. Wet sheets 24feet in length are mechanically shaped stable self-supporting U and W sections which can span 18 feet of roof width without additional wood supports. Interlocking when laid side by side, the sections can be used to cover any length of roof space.

The asbestos-cement roofing materials are backed by the experience of the ETERNIT organisation in five continents. Perfectly suited to tropical climates because of their thermo-insulatory properties, as well as their other qualities, some 12,000 self-supporting section have been selected by the European Development Fund for roofing the new teacher training centre at Kimuensa. An excellent reference for Congo ETERNIT.