As multi-country infrastructure projects gain momentum across Southern Africa, Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed to fast-track development of the Lobito Corridor, a strategic transport artery expected to boost regional trade, investment and economic integration.
The commitment was formalised recently in Luanda during a coordination meeting comprising ministers of finance, transport, trade and infrastructure from the three countries.
The meeting also drew the European Union, international financing institutions including the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group as well as bilateral partners from France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US. Under its Global Gateway Initiative, the EU is mobilising €2 billion (about R38bn) to develop the corridor.
A statement from the Luanda meeting said the three governments agreed to develop the corridor not just as a transport route but as an integrated economic corridor capable of catalysing agriculture, SME development, value-added mining, energy and urban growth, while consolidating access to global markets through the Atlantic Ocean.
The meeting endorsed four priority actions, key of which is to develop a Lobito Corridor development master plan and establish a joint investment platform to mobilise public and private capital. With more than 30 million people across the three countries, the Lobito Corridor is seen as significant, given that Zambia, Angola and the DRC are home to some of the world’s critical minerals, including copper and cobalt.
By providing a more efficient route to international markets, the corridor is expected to lower transport costs, reduce reliance on longer export routes and strengthen the three countries’ positions in global mineral supply chains while encouraging value addition and cross-border industrial development.
According to the Lobito Corridor Investment Promotion Authority, the rail route was established in the early 1900s and thrived until the mid-1970s when its use was curtailed due to damage caused by the Angolan civil war.
Its revival is central to Zambia’s strategy to reposition itself from being a landlocked country to a “land-linked” one by tapping into regional infrastructure projects and diversifying its trade routes beyond Tanzanian and South African ports.
With a target of producing three million tonnes of copper by 2031, Zambia sees the corridor as a crucial link not only to the mineral-rich North-Western Province bordering Angola and home to major mining operations but also for improving nationwide industrial logistics.
“For Zambia, the Lobito Corridor is a strategic priority,” Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said. “It will diversify our exports, lower transport and logistics costs and provide our producers with more efficient access to the Atlantic, strengthening competitiveness in mining, agriculture and value-addition industries.”
Complementing the western access, Namibia has granted Zambia free land to establish a dry port at Walvis Bay. To the east, the Zambian government is upgrading infrastructure at Chanida Border Post and building a road from the border to the town of Katete to improve linkage to the Nacala Corridor which runs from the Mozambican port on the Indian Ocean.
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