China's biggest investment deal in Africa is faltering as western donors create pressure to renegotiate a minerals-for-infrastructure contract in the Democratic Republic of Congo valued at $9bn (€6.9bn, £6bn).

Under the deal, a consortium of state-owned Chinese companies agreed to build roads, railways, hospitals and universities in return for the right to develop a copper and cobalt mine.

But pressure to alter the deal has come from western donors that will not offer relief on historic debt of $11bn to the cash-strapped government of President Joseph Kabila, if it accepts Chinese financing on commercial terms.

Congo is eager to take advantage of a debt relief scheme for poor countries and to access new forms of western development aid, but it cannot do so until the International Monetary Fund approves a new programme for the country, which it is not ready to do.

In public statements the IMF has “urged the [Congolese] authorities to take all actions to ensure that the final agreement [with China] is consistent with debt sustainability”.

“Changes will come,” said Victor Kasongo, Congo's deputy minister of mines, adding that the government was awaiting the results of a feasibility study, due by June, on the “robustness” of the project.

Mr Kasongo said Congo wanted to ensure the deal met the criteria for “fair commerce” and was willing to address donors' concerns. “Congo has chosen to carry on with the IMF and World Bank economic route and at the same time to pursue development with Chinese money,” he said.

Most western donors have said they support the deal “in principle” because it gives Congo access to capital on a scale it could not receive from anywhere else. But, led by the Paris Club of creditors and the IMF, they have raised objections to specific provisions.

The focus of concern, according to western diplomats in Kinshasa, is that the deal would give the Chinese consortium unprecedented state financial guarantees, including some that earmark government revenues and make China a privileged creditor. But Wu Zexian, China's ambassador to Congo, indicated that it would not be so easy. “They [western institutions] are wrong to ask Congo to remove the state guarantee. That is blackmail,” he said. “This is a poor country that needs to develop. Why force the country to modify the clause?

“We cannot accept that. It's discriminatory.”

When the deal was struck in 2008 China's appetite for the metals was insatiable, but if it is scaled back or unravels, it could mark a turning point in China's quest for resources, which has threatened to marginalise western donors.

Congo has 10 per cent of the world's copper reserves and the deal promised to enable the cash-strapped government of the country, still recovering from a debilitating civil war, to translate its mineral wealth into tangible development.

Reduced commodity prices are raising questions about how far its mining revenues will cover the infrastructure costs.

中国在非洲的最大投资交易面临阻力，原因是西方捐助方正在制造压力，要求刚果民主共和国重新谈判一宗矿物换基础设施的合同，该合同价值90亿美元。

根据这项协议，由中国国有企业组成的一个财团同意建设公路、铁路、医院和大学，以换取开发铜矿和钴矿的权利。

但是，西方捐助方施加压力要求变更协议，它们的立场是：如果约瑟夫·卡比拉(Joseph Kabila)总统领导的现金匮乏的政府按商业条款接受中方融资，它们将不会豁免刚果110亿美元的历史债务。

刚果正急于利用面向穷国的债务减免方案，并得到新形式的西方发展援助，但在国际货币基金组织(IMF)批准该国的新计划之前，刚果无法达到这些目的。IMF目前无意对刚果开绿灯。

IMF在公开声明中表示，已“敦促[刚果]官方采取所有行动，确保[与中国]达成的最终协议符合债务可持续性的要求”。

刚果矿业部副部长维克托·卡桑戈(Victor Kasongo)表示，“会有一些变化”，他补充说，政府正在等待一项可行性研究，以评估该项目的“健全性”。该研究将于6月得出结果。

卡桑戈表示，刚果想要确保协议达到“公平商务”的标准，并愿意应对捐助方的关切。“刚果已选择继续沿用IMF和世界银行推动经济发展的道路，同时寻求利用中国资金进行发展，”他说。

多数西方捐助方已表示，它们“原则上”支持这一协议，因为它让刚果得到从其它途径得不到的巨额资金。但在“巴黎俱乐部”(Paris Club)债权国和IMF的带头下，它们对某些具体条款提出了反对。

据金沙萨西方外交官介绍，关切焦点是这项协议将给予中国财团史无前例的政府财务担保，其中一些将占用政府收入，并使中国成为享有特权的债权方。但中国驻刚果大使吴泽献暗示，这不会那么容易。“它们[西方机构]要求刚果取消政府担保是不对的。这是讹诈，”他说。“这是一个需要发展的穷国。为什么要迫使这个国家修改条款？

“我们对此不能接受。这是歧视性的。”

当该协议在2008年达成时，中国对金属的需求似乎是无止境的，但如果该协议缩小规模或落空，它可能标志着中国寻求资源过程的一个转折点，这一过程已产生排挤西方捐助方的威胁。

刚果拥有世界铜矿储量的10%，该协议使现金匮乏的该国政府有望将本国的矿藏转化为现实的经济发展。目前刚果仍在从内战浩劫中艰难恢复。

大宗商品价格下跌，让人质疑刚果政府能在多大程度上用采矿业收入支付基础设施成本。