LUSAKA, April – A planned railway linking Zambia’s copper belt to Angola’s Lobito port is expected to cost between $3 billion and $5 billion, with construction scheduled to begin this year, according to an environmental and social impact report published by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency on April 3.
The 830-kilometre line, designed to connect key mining regions to global export routes, is projected to be completed by 2030. Africa Finance Corporation is serving as the lead developer and sponsor of the project.
The development marks Zambia’s largest rail infrastructure project since the 1970s, when the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority line was built to link the copper belt to the Tanzanian coast.
That network has since deteriorated and is currently undergoing a $1.2 billion rehabilitation backed by Chinese firms.
The Lobito corridor project also builds on ongoing upgrades in Angola, where the United States has committed $553 million to support a consortium including Trafigura and Mota-Engil to modernise the existing railway from the Lobito port to the Democratic Republic of Congo border.
While the report does not confirm additional US funding for the Zambian extension, it notes that the European Union has expressed strategic interest in the project, with the African Development Bank also committing financing support.
Projected freight volumes are expected to reach about two million tonnes annually by 2031, rising to nearly 2.7 million tonnes over the following decade, according to the report.
