US President Joe Biden has met with African leaders to advance the Lobito railway project, a plan to extend a railway that could channel critical minerals from Congo and Zambia to the West via Angola. The $550 million loan provided by the US Development Finance Corporation is aimed at refurbishing an existing railway through Angola and extending it into Congo’s mining heartland.
The project aims to counter China’s commercial edge in the region, which has significant reserves of copper and cobalt. A second phase of the project envisions extending the Lobito corridor railway through Zambia and connecting it to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam.
Biden met with leaders from Angola, Congo, Zambia, and Tanzania to discuss investment, peace, and economic growth. The US has funded feasibility studies for the second phase, but critics say it could offer China a rival route eastwards.
The project is backed by global commodities trader Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil, and railway operator Vecturis. While no completion date has been set, US officials have said that the Lobito project could be completed by the end of the decade.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-visits-angolan-port-city-lobito-tout-railway-plans-2024-12-04