Luanda, Aug. 18, 2026 (Lusa) - Angola has awarded a 30-year concession to two companies for the electricity corridor stretching over 1,000 kilometres from the east of the country to the mining region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The concession for the Eastern Corridor, for the transmission of 400 kilovolt-amperes (kVA) via a double circuit, spanning 1,240 kilometres, was awarded on Monday by the Angolan president to Somagec Energy Holding, a Moroccan construction company, in partnership with Averi Finance, an investment, financing and consultancy platform based in the United Arab Emirates, which is leading the project's financial structuring and capital mobilisation.
«Together, the two companies will build, own, operate and, after 30 years, transfer (BOOT) what is, in practice, a new energy backbone for the region – entirely at private risk and cost. No public debt. No sovereign guarantees,» said a source at Somagec.
The private-sector initiative, under a 30-year ‘BOOT' scheme, will link Laúca, in the province of Malanje, to Kolwezi, a copper and cobalt mining region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The infrastructure is set to traverse the Angolan provinces of Malanje, Lunda Sul and Moxico and supply «cheap and clean energy to the world's largest hub for battery metals».
«On the Congolese side, the line runs directly to the industrial heart of Katanga – the copper and cobalt region around Kolwezi, which supplies a large part of the global electric vehicle battery supply chain. Angolan hydroelectric power is cheaper and cleaner than the diesel that many mining operations still burn,» the same source pointed out.
This is the second cross-border energy corridor to be developed by the two companies, following the Northern Corridor, which comprises the transmission line between Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo via the Angolan province of Cabinda.
The source emphasised that this project generates revenue for the Angolan state-owned utility through the Power Purchase Agreement to be signed with RNT-EP, the national electricity transmission operator.
«The corridor formally positions Angola as a strategic supplier of electricity to both the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) and the Central African Power Pool (PEAC) — a long-stated national ambition, which now has a signed concession and a private financing structure behind it,» he stressed.
NME/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
