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Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has signed concession agreements with the governments of Angola and Zambia to finance, construct, own, and operate the Lobito railway project.
In 2023, AFC was appointed lead developer on the Zambia Lobito rail project in collaboration with the US Government, the European Union, the African Development Bank and the governments of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. The project involves the construction of an approximately 800 km greenfield rail line connecting the Benguela rail line in Luacano, Angola, to the existing Zambia Railways Line in Chingola, Zambia.
Concurrent with signing the concession agreements, AFC also signed an agreement to receive US$2 million in grant funding from the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), towards completion of the environmental and social studies for the project. AFC will play the pivotal role of lead developer on the rail project which not only offers an efficient evacuation route for minerals and metals from the region but helps establish a trade corridor across Africa from the Port of Lobito on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to the Port of Dar es Salam in Tanzania on the coast of the Indian Ocean, facilitating global and intra-African trade.
The corridor will provide an alternative strategic route to international export markets for Zambia and DRC. It will offer the shortest route for export and imports, linking key mining regions, agricultural clusters and businesses in Zambia and DRC to the Port of Lobito. It will significantly facilitate the movement of cargo from the Copperbelt and Northwestern Provinces, through Angola to the Western markets. |
