Africa - 26 February 2024
26 Feb 2024
AFRICA
Call it Africa’s great rail race. A competition is rapidly emerging in Zambia, where two big railway projects — one backed by the US and another by China — take shape in the southern African nation’s copper-mining heartland. Washington is supporting the Lobito corridor, a $2.3 billion plan to upgrade an existing line that runs to the Atlantic port of Lobito from Democratic Republic of Congo and build about 800 kilometers (500 miles) of new track into Zambia. To the east, China has proposed a $1 billion-plus revival of the historic Tazara line to Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port. Both promise a far quicker route to market for copper and cobalt from Congo and Zambia.
That’s important — the world will need those minerals to transition away from fossil fuels. And, these two countries hold among the richest resources. The US is coordinating a diverse group of companies and government agencies to make Lobito happen. Construction on the new Zambia link may not start until 2026, provided the funding is in place — again, from a variety of lenders. The task is complex. China, meanwhile, is in a hurry. Just weeks after sending a team of engineers to inspect the state of the line that Mao Zedong financed and built in the 1970s, the government pitched its plan to Zambia to revive Tazara. A state-owned Chinese company will run it under a commercial concession, and the financing will likely come from Chinese lenders.
The race doesn’t end there. Both powers are also angling to help Zambia develop battery manufacturing industries to add value to its raw materials and create jobs. President Hakainde Hichilema called Lobito a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for Zambia. As it turns out, it’s not the only one.” (Source)