The decision was taken after the Organising Committee’s most recent report to Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, when Kinshasa 2022 director Isidore Kwandja Ngembo reaffirmed that the Games will open on August 19 as planned.

"The only site that was in a critical situation was the Village," Kwandja Ngembo admitted.

"We proposed that, as was done elsewhere in previous Games in Beirut, and Nice in France, we should house the athletes in university sites. 

"The athletes are to stay at the University of Kinshasa where buildings have recently been modernised," he added.

“Now these rooms are brand new, we can make them available. We are also going to make some investments, in particular by installing fibre optics, strengthening the water and electricity system and developing the sports grounds."

He called for work on this to begin quickly.

Official communiques last year had detailed plans for a Village of 12 buildings at Stade Tata Raphaël, with provision in the complex for 2328 rooms.

The project has been shelved because there is no longer sufficient time to complete the work before the Games but Kwandja Ngembo insisted that work should continue at Stade Tata Raphaël.

"It is important that we have these infrastructures, because after the Games of La Francophonie, we would be able to organise other international or African events," he said.

"This is really an opportunity for our country to kill two birds with one stone, that is to say that we will organise the Games on time and we will make investments that will benefit Congolese youth."

The problems with the Village represent the latest setback for Games which had originally been awarded to Moncton-Dieppe in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. They withdrew from hosting citing spiralling costs.

In 2019 the Games were reallocated to Kinshasa. Originally scheduled for 2021, they were moved to 2022 to avoid a clash with the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"There were problems. The commitment to organise these games was made in 2020. Afterwards, we experienced the COVID-19 pandemic which changed everything and we postponed the date," said Regional Integration Minister Didier Mazenga Lukanzu.