* World Bank, China and Congo in railway deal
* Aim to rehabilitate ruined railway tracks
* Bank says agreement with Chinese new to Africa
By Jonny Hogg
KINSHASA, May 12 (Reuters) - China and the World Bank launched a ${esc.dollar}600 million plan with Congo on Thursday to revamp hundreds of kilometres (miles) of dilapidated rail network, including within the central African country's mining belt.
The World Bank said it was the first time it had tried such a joint financing deal with China in Africa, with Beijing set to provide ${esc.dollar}200 million as part of a broader ${esc.dollar}6 billion "minerals for infrastructure" agreement it struck with Congo in 2009.
The size of western Europe, Congo has seen its transport links disintegrate due to years of misrule and conflict and the local SNCC rail operator is mired in financial troubles. Many Congolese have no choice but to use the country's waterways for travel, resulting each year in hundreds of deaths by drowning.
"We want to bring hope, both to the employees of SNCC and to the populations reliant on the rail network," World Bank transport specialist Pozzo Di Borgo said of the deal.
The accord will see nearly 700 km (400 miles) of rail rehabilitated in the southern and central provinces of Kasai and Katanga, the heart of Congo's copper mining sector.
Pozzo Di Borgo said around a fifth of ${esc.dollar}244 million invested by the World Bank will go into retirement packages for 4,000 SNCC employees unable to quit because they have not been paid.
The move would free up around ${esc.dollar}7 million a year in reduced wage bills, he added.
Congo's government is committed to to providing the remaining ${esc.dollar}156 million through a combination of cash investments and tax breaks to Vecturis, the Belgiam firm that will run the network. The work is due to be completed by 2015.
The World Bank is also trying to attract investment from international mining companies operating in Katanga, many of whom currently ship their produce out of the country by road.
"We're happy if the mining companies can benefit from this and move their produce more quickly," Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu said.
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