The United States has announced plans to extend the Lobito Corridor, a major shipping route that snakes through mineral-rich Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast.
Helaina Mazza, Acting Special Coordinator for Global Infrastructure Investment Partnerships in the U.S. Department of State, spoke at the end of a week-long visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, calling for the country’s inclusion in what she called the “trans project.” He elaborated on the early discussions. This will facilitate global exports of copper, cobalt and other important minerals.
“Our mission on this journey is to continue to expand the Trans-African Corridor, including resuming our partnership with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and taking steps to extend the economic corridor to the Indian Ocean. This includes working with the Tanzanian government and the private sector on steps,” Mazza said.
“We are working with governments, across the region and the private sector to understand what the local needs are and how best to physically extend the Trans-African Corridor through the mainline railways we have supported. We’re working to deeply understand what we’re investing in, but we’re also working on a significant layered approach that will help us take advantage of what happens when we actually reduce the amount of time it takes to travel in a region. By thinking about the project.”
Mr. Matza also provided updates on investments elsewhere in the corridor, including the Benguela rail renovation in Angola, which received an initial investment of $250 million from the United States Development Finance Corporation. Another planned project is the construction of an 800-kilometre greenfield railway in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, which Mazza said would be “the most ambitious commercial project on the continent that the United States has ever supported.” It is said to be an infrastructure (project) led by the government.
These ambitious infrastructure projects will require major investments. According to Harvard International Review, the corridor is expected to cost between $1 billion and $2.3 billion. Mazza said the African Development Bank has committed $500 million to the project and Italy has pledged $320 million. Financing for the greenfield rail project is currently underway and is being sourced from private financial institutions. The railroad is offering pre-booked capacity to investors as a way to obtain funding for the project.
Competition with China for critical minerals
The corridor is seen as a key means for the United States and its allies to increase access to Africa’s critical minerals. The International Energy Agency estimates that between 2020 and 2040, demand for nickel and cobalt will increase 20 times, graphite 25 times, and lithium more than 40 times. Access to critical minerals is critical to facilitating the transition away from fossil fuels and is the basis for new hardware and software developments in technology.
In November 2023, the EU and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, the African Development Bank, and the African Finance Corporation, defining the role and objectives of the corridor expansion.
A key objective for the US and EU is to link Copperbelt mines directly to the Atlantic Ocean, reducing the time and cost of exporting from current trucking corridors to South African ports.
“Reducing trade routes from 45 days to 36 hours opens up a whole new world of markets,” Mazza said of the anticipated time savings.
The United States is currently highly dependent on China for critical minerals, making it vulnerable to Chinese export restrictions. U.S. leaders have hinted at the importance of ensuring the United States has its own supplies of critical minerals.
But Wala Chabala of the Africa Policy Institute says the challenges are steep. The United States and its EU countries signed memorandums of understanding with most African countries a decade ago, and have already secured the majority of supplies of critical raw materials and established supply chains for cobalt, lithium, and several other essential minerals and metals. It lags far behind China, which has built a . In addition, China plans to take over the Tazara railway concession, which connects the Copperbelt to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam, after discussions with the governments of Zambia and Tanzania earlier this year.
Will Africans benefit?
Various African leaders are calling for more value to be extracted from investments by China and other countries. Countries with large young populations, such as Congo and Zambia, want to be involved not only in exporting raw materials but also in upgrading batteries and other components.
When asked if critical minerals produced around the corridor would be processed and refined within African countries, Matsa declined to make specific commitments, but said that African countries could be further up the value chain. He admitted his desire to expand into the
“For us, it’s not about extracting raw ore; in fact, we’re working to create eco-friendly products for the benefit of our country and other partner countries, to be part of the ever-developing global battery ecosystem. “We’re looking at how we can help fund the system,” she said.
