Lukunga River constant deposits of sediment. The river drains the Ngaliema commune, Mama Mobutu city and part of Mont-Ngafula, and forms the boundary between Ngaliema and Mont-Ngafule. On its right bank the Lukunga is fed first by the Ikusu River, which has its source at a height of and then by the Mbinza River, which rises at a height of . Before independence, one of the two water treatment plants for Leopoldville, now Kinshasa, was on the Likunga river at Kinsuka in the Ngaliema district. The station had been designed to last for 30 years with normal maintenance, but was in very
Kimwenza Leopoldville. However, a site further north about in size on the crest called Mont Amba had the advantage of being even closer to the city, and in April 1952 the governor general Eugène Jungers ceded ownership of the site to the university. In July 1954 the university was placed under the direction of the Jesuits of the Catholic University of Louvain, and named Lovanium University. While the Jesuits aimed to educate an African elite, the Belgian colonial administration was hostile to this goal, and it was only in 1956 that they recognized the university. After independence it was to become