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Jevans Nyabiage

For Washington, the Lobito Corridor rail project is meant to circumvent Chinese influence in Africa’s mineral supply chains.
Once up and running, the corridor will stretch 1,600km (1,000 miles) westward through mineral-rich Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to create a logistics corridor to the Atlantic port of Lobito in neighbouring Angola.
The United States sees it as a direct rival to the China-backed 1,860km Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara), which stretches eastward from Kapiri Mposhi in central Zambia to Dar es Salaam on Tanzania’s eastern coast.
But for the African governments involved, the corridor is less about geopolitical sway and more about the need to create a seamless transcontinental connection – officials in Luanda, Kinshasa, and Lusaka are pursuing “interoperability” to link the Atlantic port of Lobito with the Indian Ocean at Dar es Salaam and Mozambican ports.


Speaking in Nairobi on the sidelines of a summit on African infrastructure in late April, Kafuta Mulemba of the intergovernmental Lobito Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency said that while global powers such as the US and China vied for influence in a region rich in critical minerals, the agency would keep prioritising the economic ambitions of its member states.
“You should remember that these assets are state-owned,” Mulemba said. “We do not look at it from a perspective of whether it is Chinese or American. Geopolitics remains geopolitics, but our priority is ensuring inter-regional trade.”
The US and the European Union have committed significant funding to secure access to strategic critical minerals and counter Chinese influence in the region, but Mulemba suggested that China would continue as a major player.
“The US deals with us as member states, and we are providing an alternative supply chain for them,” he said, noting that Chinese interests continued to dominate the local mining sector.
Mulemba said a memorandum of understanding was being prepared to align the Lobito Corridor with the Central Corridor – connecting landlocked countries in eastern and central Africa – and the Tazara railway, creating a seamless link between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The plan marks a shift away from fragmented, road-reliant routes.
“The infrastructure already exists,” Mulemba said.
The Lobito Corridor involves rehabilitating 1,300km of track from Lobito to the Angolan border as well as 450km within the DRC, alongside a planned greenfield spur into Zambia.
The greenfield project would link Zambia Railways to the Benguela Railway, which already connects to the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer du Congo, the DRC’s national railway company.
This vital artery runs through the DRC from the town of Dilolo bordering Angola to the southeastern DRC town of Sakania on the Zambian border, effectively bridging Angola and Zambia.


The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the lead developer of the greenfield project, has pledged US$500 million and secured US$1.3 billion in indicative financing, including US$500 million from the African Development Bank and US$300 million from the Italian government.
The AFC aims to conclude selection of the engineering, procurement and construction contractor by July, followed by the debt-and-equity-raising phase in the third quarter of this year.
Amadou Wadda, a senior director at the AFC, said the Zambia Railways-Lobito project was intended to “enhance connectivity between landlocked countries and international markets via both the Atlantic and Indian oceans”.
Youssef Elgonaid, CEO of the African Rail Company, highlighted the importance of “first-mile and last-mile solutions”.
“We currently move copper from the Copperbelt by truck to Harare and then by rail to Maputo. This is a corridor that did not previously exist because it was not an obvious route for commodity exporters,” Elgonaid said.
Investment was also being directed towards the DRC section to ensure realisation of the transcontinental ambitions.
“The line between Angola and the DRC already exists. It just needs rehabilitation on the Congolese side,” Mulemba said.
He said the agency was in talks with the World Bank for about US$500 million in funding and said the US International Development Finance Corporation had also expressed strong interest in the railway line in the DRC.
Upgrades are also under way on the Tazara line, with the operator securing a US$1.4 billion investment from the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).
Under a 30-year concession, the route’s rehabilitation is backed by a commercial joint venture including Chinese mining giants Zijin Mining and CMOC, alongside COSCO Shipping and Jiayou International Logistics.
The venture creates a Chinese-controlled logistics chain from the mining pits to the port at Dar es Salaam.


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Economic ambitions are the priority, says official with project that Washington has framed as de-risking mineral supply chains from Beijing


Economic ambitions are the priority, says official with project that Washington has framed as de-risking mineral supply chains from Beijing.


Why African leaders value seamless transcontinental links over US-China rivalry

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Economic ambitions are the priority, says official with project that Washington has framed as de-risking mineral supply chains from Beijing

Economic ambitions are the priority, says official with project that Washington has framed as de-risking mineral supply chains from Beijing