Luanda, Sept. 10, 2026 (Lusa) - An article published on Thursday highlights the Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil as a key factor in China's control over the Lobito Corridor in Angola, on which the West is relying to reduce its dependence on the Chinese market.
The Centre for Studies on Economic and Social Development in Africa (CEDESA) highlights what it describes as the «Chinese Paradox» in an article dedicated to China's influence on the Lobito Corridor, the mega railway project designed to link the Atlantic to Africa's mineral-rich interior and facilitate the export of minerals such as copper and cobalt.
«Through MotaEngil, China controls a key part of the infrastructure that the West intends to use to reduce its dependence on China. It is a strategic irony that is hard to ignore,» reads the article published by the organisation, which is dedicated to the study and research of political and economic issues in Southern Africa, particularly Angola.
The Lobito Corridor project brings together the United States, the European Union and the governments of Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and, as the analysis points out, «seeks to offer a logistical alternative to Chinese dominance in the export of copper, cobalt and other strategic minerals» from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) «and, to a lesser extent, from Angola».
The article concluded that «paradoxically, one of the major ultimate beneficiaries of its implementation is China».
This conclusion highlights «the decisive role of MotaEngil, whose governance is strongly influenced by Chinese shareholders; the Chinese ownership of a substantial proportion of the mines that will supply the corridor; and the strategic incapacity of the so-called West, characterised by hesitation, a lack of vision and a cultural environment that devalues collective ambition».
CEDESA points out that the primary reason for China's position «lies in MotaEngil's central role in the project», as it has become «simultaneously a major rail operator, one of the largest contractors for ancillary works, and a player with a simultaneous presence in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – something few European companies are able to replicate on such a scale and with such continuity».
«In recent years, MotaEngil has secured key contracts for the rehabilitation of railway sections, the modernisation of stations, the construction of bridges and heavy engineering works associated with the corridor,» it states.
The article notes that «MotaEngil is now a company with decisive Chinese influence», with around a third of its shares held by Chinese interests and Chinese representation on the board, although the company remains formally Portuguese.
For the author, «MotaEngil has thus become a hybrid entity, European in appearance but Chinese in its decision-making structure».
The second reason cited is the fact that «a substantial proportion of the mines from which the minerals transported via the corridor belong to Chinese companies».
«Over the last two decades, China has consolidated a dominant position in the copper and cobalt sector of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country controls between 70% and 80% of industrial production of these minerals, through majority stakes in 15 of the largest Congolese mines», it notes.
The Lobito Corridor was conceived, the article recalls, as a logistical alternative for the transport of these minerals, which currently head mainly for ports in Tanzania and South Africa.
CEDESA observes that «changing the route does not alter ownership» and that «if the minerals continue to be extracted by Chinese companies, the corridor merely facilitates the export of resources controlled by Beijing, now via infrastructure promoted by the West».
China benefits in two ways because, the article goes on to say, the Lobito Corridor «significantly reduces its transport costs by providing a shorter, more stable and less congested route to the Atlantic», and diversifies export routes to both Western and Asian markets.
«This situation does not stem from any recent Western mismanagement, but from two decades of consistent, patient and strategically directed Chinese investment,» the article states.
The West hesitates whilst China observes, invests, consolidates its positions and benefits from the infrastructure that others finance and promote, it concludes.
HFI/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
