US sees bipartisan backing for Africa critical minerals projects
A senior US State Department official reassured African governments that an initiative to help counter China’s influence through developing infrastructure on the continent will continue even after a change in administration.
The flagship of the plan — a railway project known as the Lobito corridor that connects copper and cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to an Atlantic port in Angola — is already far advanced, Helaina Matza, acting special coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, said on Wednesday.
The Biden administration has championed the Lobito project as part of a Group of Seven infrastructure plan. The programme aims to deploy $600-billion by 2027 to close the infrastructure gap around the world to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative and secure access to minerals critical to the energy transition. Yet questions have emerged whether Donald Trump would continue the effort if he wins US presidential elections in November.
“Every dollar that you have heard — that’s announced already — is in motion,” Matza said in response to a question on what a new administration could mean for the Lobito corridor and other efforts. “What we’re focused on right now is how do we identify those last pieces that we need to get moving.”
The US initially proposed $250-million in financing for the corridor from its International Development Finance Corp. Its board has since signed off on $553-million in funding, which Congress is yet to approve. The group of companies that won the concession to operate the rail line linking Angola’s Lobito port to the Congo border expects the first disbursement in the first quarter of 2025.
RAILWAY REVIVAL
The central African copperbelt that Zambia and Congo share has become the center of a regional railway revival, as companies and governments seek to ensure there’s enough transport capacity to bring in supplies and boost exports of metals. Currently 80% of goods on the continent are transported by road with truck journeys to ports sometimes taking more than a month, often with days-long border queues.
Zambia is also eying the revitalization of another historic railway route to Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania. The governments aim to sign a deal next month with China Civil Engineering Construction Corp for the State-owned company to take over the concession of the Tanzania-Zambia, or Tazara, line and operate it commercially.
While the US has said it wants to connect Lobito to the Tanzania coast via a trans-African railway, it’s unclear whether the new Tazara concessionaire would be open to this.
“We think it’s really important to leverage existing infrastructure,” Matza said. “If we are given an opportunity to find a way to create some compatibility and open access connectivity between the work that we’re doing and Tazara and or other existing rail lines, we’re certainly going to do everything we can to pursue that.”
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation