Luanda, Feb. 6, 2026 (Lusa) - Angola's Lobito Corridor will have a monitoring tool to track projects and financing, revealed an official from the World Bank, an institution that wants to help mitigate risks through guarantees to attract the private sector.
In an interview with Lusa after attending the high-level meeting on the Lobito Corridor coordination mechanism on Thursday in Luanda, Anna Bjerde said that the World Bank intends to support the project through public and private instruments, including guarantees, to make it "investable" and enable public-private partnerships.
"The World Bank is well equipped to provide public and private financing, as well as guarantee mechanisms that reduce risk and allow for greater private sector participation," she said.
According to Anna Bjerde, one of the main outcomes of the meeting was the widespread recognition that lack of coordination is one of the biggest risks to the project's success.
Cross-border projects of this size require "a strong coordination framework" between the three countries and also between development partners, she said.
To this end, a monitoring tool (a tracker) will be created, which will allow for near real-time monitoring of what each country and each partner is doing or planning.
"We want to bring everything together into a single tool that allows us to track what countries need to do, what development partners are supporting, and where there may be delays or bottlenecks," she explained, noting that the tool will begin to be used even before the next meeting, which will be held in the second quarter in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo).
The World Bank's Director General of Operations also highlighted the importance of removing obstacles at border posts and in commercial transactions to reduce transport time from the current 25 to 30 days to around five to seven days.
"There are many elements that need to be addressed, such as procedures, inspections, training and harmonisation of rules," she explained.
She stressed that the Lobito Corridor should not just be an infrastructure for transporting minerals and needs to be transformed into a true economic corridor through investments in areas such as agriculture, where she sees opportunities for job creation.
"If we can increase farmers' productivity and give them access to markets, that alone will create many jobs," said Anna Bjerde, adding that other areas such as logistics, cold chains, digital services, industry and urban development also offer relevant opportunities, especially for young people.
She also acknowledged the challenges associated with economic expansion along the corridor, including issues of access to land, advocating transparency and compensation for communities.
On the financial front, Anna Bjerde advocated a combination of concessional financing and private investment, stressing that some segments of the infrastructure will require low-cost public resources, while others may attract private capital with the support of guarantees. "We have to combine public and private financing and use risk reduction strategies to give investors comfort," she said.
Anna Bjerde considered that the corridor has transformative potential by connecting the countries involved (Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo) to the Atlantic and amplifying access to global markets, but warned that success will depend on the ability to align investments, reforms and timetables.
"The rationale for the Lobito Corridor is very clear, but it all depends on how we finance, coordinate and reduce risks to ensure viability and sustainability," she concluded.
The Lobito Corridor is a strategic infrastructure linking the Port of Lobito in Angola to the mining regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia via the Benguela Railway.
The corridor is seen as a regional platform to facilitate cross-border trade, reduce transport times and costs, and connect countries in inland Southern and Central Africa to the Atlantic Ocean, promoting economic development along its route.
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