Luanda, July 25, 2025 (Lusa) - The World Bank’s executive director said on Friday that the Lobito corridor should be an economic ecosystem around the railway line between Lobito and the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“I visited the railway line, we are seeing the potential of the project and recognising the need to develop an ecosystem; it goes beyond transport and focuses on developing agro-industries, and on understanding how we can integrate with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia,” said Axel van Trotsenburg.

In an interview with Lusa at the end of his visit to Angola this week,  the World Bank’s ‘number two’ said that the visit “was very encouraging” and added: “We suggest the creation of an economic ecosystem that takes advantage of the potential of the continental free trade area [AfCFTA] and, in a way, gains momentum in growth through the integration of economies”.

One aspect of this project, which essentially consists of rehabilitating the railway line from the port of Lobito to the border with the DRC for the transport of minerals, is the need to rehabilitate passenger transport.

“This will provide new connectivity opportunities along the railway line, which may include tourism and investment opportunities, particularly given the very favourable location of the deep-water port,” said the World Bank official.

Journalists asked whether the Angolan government was committed to creating agro-industries around the central mineral transport line from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Lobito, and Axel van Trotsenburg replied: “In discussions with the government and local authorities, this broader concept of the corridor is very much on their minds.”

The Lobito Corridor is a 1,300-kilometre railway infrastructure that crosses Angola, linking the port of Lobito on the coast to the border with the DRC to transport critical minerals from the Copperbelt (DRC) and Kolwezi (Zambia) regions.

Lobito Atlantic Railway (a consortium comprising Portugal’s Mota-Egil, Switzerland’s Trafigura and Belgium’s Vecturis) runs the operation. Parties expect the investment to reach almost one billion dollars (850 million euros), with the US financing agency Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Southern African Development Bank partly financing it, along with the European Union and multilateral banks involved in the project.

MBA/ADB // ADB.

Lusa