Trafigura-led group to spend $555 million on Angola rail project

A group of investors led by commodity trader Trafigura Group plans to invest as much as $555 million in a railway project that will link the Angolan port of Lobito to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The consortium, known as Lobito Atlantic Railways, will spend $455 million on the so-called Lobito Corridor — a 1,344 kilometer-long trade route - as well as up to $100 million on a 400-kilometer railway line in Congo, Angolan Transport Minister Ricardo Viegas d’Abreu said Tuesday in a staement. The group of investors includes Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construcao Africa and Vecturis SA, a Brussels-based private railway operator.

Lobito Atlantic has been granted a 30-year concession to operate the Lobito Corridor, with the possibility of it being extended to 50 years if the railway is expanded into Zambia, Viegas d’Abreu said.

Using the so-called Caminho-de-Ferro de Benguela railway will provide faster trade routes to Europe and the Americas from the copper and cobalt-rich areas of Congo and Zambia, according to the statement.

The US has pledged to help finance the project, Angolan President Joao Lourenco said in the statement.