AfDB Backs Zambia’s Lobito Corridor Push With $265 Million Financing

The African Development Bank Group has approved a $265 million financing package to strengthen Zambia’s connection to the Lobito Economic Corridor, backing rail, road and trade-facilitation investments designed to improve the country’s access to regional and international markets.

The package comprises a $255 million loan from the African Development Fund and a $10 million grant, according to the African Development Bank’s project announcement.

The approval, announced on 6 August, supports the first phase of a wider programme aimed at connecting Zambia more efficiently to Angola’s Atlantic coast through the Lobito Corridor. The investment is particularly significant for Zambia’s Copperbelt and other productive regions that depend on reliable transport links to move minerals, agricultural goods and other exports.

Rail and road links at the centre

AfDB says the first phase includes about 550 kilometres of new railway in Zambia and the upgrading of approximately 105 kilometres of the Mwinilunga–Jimbe road. The programme also includes trade facilitation and institutional support intended to improve the movement of goods and people along the corridor.

The wider ambition is to develop the corridor as more than a transport route. Better logistics can lower the cost of reaching ports, improve the competitiveness of businesses located along the route and create opportunities for processing, manufacturing and agricultural value chains around the infrastructure.

A second gateway for Zambia

The Lobito Corridor provides landlocked Zambia with a westward route to the Atlantic through Angola. Its development complements the country’s established trade routes towards ports on Africa’s eastern and southern coasts and could give exporters greater flexibility in reaching global markets.

For the wider region, the corridor is also being positioned as an economic-development platform linking transport infrastructure with mining, agriculture, energy and industrial investment across Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

The Bank says subsequent financing and mobilisation could take the programme to about $500 million. That makes the current approval an important first step in a broader effort to translate regional connectivity into investment, trade and jobs.