“We are transforming logistical corridors into corridors of opportunities, and we are not talking about paper projects, we are talking about investments with numbers, with works on the ground, and with impact on the lives of millions of citizens,” said the minister during his speech at the EurAfrican Forum, taking place today and Saturday on the outskirts of Lisbon.
The Lobito Corridor “will transform regional trade and position Angola as a strategic logistics platform for Southern Africa,” the official added, noting that these line expansion and extension works connecting the Lobito port to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with other major projects, will change the country and the region.
“The rehabilitation and expansion of the Namibe port is another essential axis for connectivity that will efficiently and safely connect the country’s agricultural and mining interiors to the global economy,” the Angolan official said, highlighting also that “the new António Agostinho Neto International Airport will position itself as a regional aviation platform for Europe, Latin America, and Asia,” and the deep-water terminal of Caio, in Cabinda, will be connected by railway to the two neighboring countries.
Emphasizing that these projects “are not limited to the physical dimension of the works” as they are “instruments of territorial cohesion,” the minister stressed that, soon, international public tenders will be launched for the concession of the north and south corridors, two strategic logistical axes that will reinforce integration with neighboring markets and efficiently drain Angola’s agricultural, mining, and industrial production.
According to Ricardo Viegas d’Abreu, the northern corridor will have its epicenter in the port of Luanda with a railway connection to Malanje, aiming to “leverage the central-northern economic axis,” while the southern corridor, based in the port of Namibe, “will consolidate the role of the southern region as an export platform and connection to the interior and neighboring countries.”
In presenting the initiatives to an audience mostly composed of entrepreneurs and investors, the Angolan official also highlighted the deep-water terminal of Caio, in Cabinda province, “a strategic value infrastructure that will open a new maritime access to the northern region, reinforcing Cabinda’s industrial logistics role and concretely promoting territorial cohesion and regional integration.”
The Lobito Corridor is a railway infrastructure that crosses Angola over 1,300 kilometers, connecting the Lobito port (coastal) to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo to drain critical mineral production from the Copperbelt (DR Congo) and Kolwezi (Zambia) regions.
The operation is assured by the Lobito Atlantic Railway (a consortium that includes the Portuguese Mota-Egil, the Swiss Trafigura, and the Belgian Vecturis) and is expected to have an investment of nearly one billion dollars, partially financed by the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
The Corridor is also part of the European initiative Global Gateway, with the European bloc having announced a package of 600 million euros through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) developed within the scope of the G7.
