The African Development Bank (AfDB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), joining global partners to mobilise resources for the Lobito Corridor and the Zambia-Lobito rail line in southern and central Africa.
Article continues below
Other signatories included the United States government, the European Commission, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), and the host governments of Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The MoU, signed Thursday 27 October, outlines the partners' intentions to collaborate across multiple sectors to realise the full economic potential of the corridor, building on the Lobito Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency agreement signed by the three African governments in January this year.
The works entail the construction of approximately 550 km of rail line in Zambia from the Jimbe border to Chingola in the Zambian copper belt and the 260 km of main feeder roads within the corridor.
When completed, the programme will expand an economic corridor connecting the host countries to global markets to enhance regional trade and growth, and to advance the shared vision of connected, open-access rail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
The Bank plans to contribute approximately $500 million to the project through a blend of sovereign and non-sovereign instruments, including concessional allocations. During the Africa Investment Forum Market Days, it will hold a “deep dive†discussion on the Lobito Corridor.
Solomon Quaynor, Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, signed on behalf of the Bank.
“The Lobito Corridor Project is a very strategic corridor that will facilitate regional integration and grow trade across the three countries and beyond. It will attract investments in digital access, clean energy supply chains, and agricultural value chains that will increase regional competitiveness and trade within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The Bank is ready and glad to be working with the three countries and other partners (PGII, EU, AFC) to accelerate its delivery,†Quaynor said. ■