Construction of a massive new £1 billion rail line linking three African countries is set to begin this year. The new Lobito corridor will connect the ports of Lobito in Angola to the Democratic Republic of the Congo via Zambia.
The new route is set to open African trade to global markets, with Lobito a major port on the Atlantic Ocean coast, facilitating direct shipping to Europe and the United States. Part of the rail project involves the construction of about 350 miles of new lines in Zambia, connecting to a wider 800-mile route.
The new railway will connect the north-western region of Zambia to the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, giving Zambia access to the Atlantic Ocean. The project will also renovate the existing Benguela Railway, while hundreds of miles of feeder roads will also be built along the corridor.
The Director General of Benguela Railways, Antonio Manuel Carballe, has supported the new project.
He said: “It will boost economic infrastructure across various sectors, this corridor is open to both the world and local markets, it will cover almost any type of trade from agriculture and logistics to iron and steel sectors.”
European Commission has explained that the new corridor will be “the first open-access transcontinental rail link in Africa”. He stressed that the new project has the potential to “unleash the huge economic potential of the region” and increase export opportunities.
The new route is expected to help facilitate the transportation of minerals such as cobalt and copper. However, the new project has come under criticism for favoring Western countries over African development.
The new Lobito Corridor project is being supported by the United States’ G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) and the European Union’s Global Gateway Initiative.
Congolese economic analyst Dady Saleh is among those claiming the new project is opening up Africa’s economic market to “modern plunderers”.
He said: “This project is an organized sale of the region’s natural resources in a capitalist system.”
