* Congo cuts Chinese deal value to $6 billion
* DRC state guarantees for mining projects to be removed
* IMF says DRC could apply for new debt relief plan
(Recasts with further quotes and background)
By Joe Bavier
KINSHASA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Tuesday it would downsize a controversial infrastructure-for-minerals deal with China, winning IMF assurances it could be in line for swift debt relief.
The International Monetary Fund feared the contract to use Congo's mineral reserves as a guarantee for infrastructure projects could plunge the African nation deeper into debt and had delayed forgiveness of most of the $10 billion Congo owes.
The changes will narrow to $6 billion from $9 billion the value of the deal with China, which has overtaken the United States as Africa's top trading partner.
"During our visit the authorities ... told us that the partners have accepted the amendments in the project of the Sino-Congolese agreement including the removal of the government's guarantee on the mining project," IMF mission chief for Congo Brian Ames told reporters after talks in Kinshasa.
Congo central bank governor Jean-Claude Masangu told the same news briefing it would suspend a $3 billion infrastructure phase of the project that also raised IMF concerns.
"When the IMF services confirm that the revised agreement is compatible with the viability of the debt, the Congolese authorities will be in measure to solicit financial assurances for (a new IMF) program from the lenders of the Paris Club," said Ames.
"The administrative council of the IMF will then rapidly be able to examine the request for a new three-year HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) program," he added of a plan launched in 1996 to help poor countries with their debt burden.
"Today, we have swept away all the problems that the Chinese contract could pose," said Masangu.
ON THE BACK-BURNER
The IMF did not detail the extent of possible debt relief. A figure of $7 billion worth of non-commercial loans has previously been mooted, which would save Congo around $400 million in annual payments.
The IMF had previously cited the two amendments as critical to ensuring the deal would not add to Congo's debt burden.
The contract with China is a cornerstone of Congo's post-conflict reconstruction policy following decades of dictatorship and a 1998-2003 war that left the former Belgian colony's infrastructure in ruins.
The deal was to have included two phases of infrastructure projects with a total price tag of $6 billion aimed at rehabilitating thousands of kilometers of road and rail connections and constructing schools and hospitals.
"The second phase of infrastructure for three billion, we've put on the back-burner," said Masangu. "So with this three billion gone, we are now talking about six billion."
In addition to the first phase of infrastructure projects that will remain, $3 billion is earmarked to develop new Chinese copper and cobalt mines in mineral-rich Katanga province.
"Concerning the mining project, there was a guarantee from the state. The Chinese partners are no longer demanding a guarantee from the state. We are left with an purely commercial contract," said Masangu.
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