THE China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) will invest $1.4bn to upgrade the Tanzania-Zambia railway, the line’s operator said, improving a key route for copper exports from central Africa.
The railway, widely known by its initials, TAZARA, also offers a way to bypass logistics bottlenecks in South Africa that have slowed copper and cobalt exports, said Reuters in a report on Thursday.
“The decision to grant a concession follows an in-depth evaluation of TAZARA’s challenges over the years, which necessitated urgent intervention,” TAZARA Authority CEO Bruno Ching’andu said in a statement.
China signed a deal to revive the 50-year-old TAZARA last year, as the US was throwing its financial weight behind a rival transport corridor for minerals called Lobito, after an Angolan port.
Some $1bn of CCECC’s investment will go towards the rehabilitation of the TAZARA’s rail tracks, while the balance will be used to purchase 32 new locomotives and 762 new wagons to boost capacity, Ching’andu said in the Reuters report.
TAZARA released the statement on the sidelines of the Zambia International Mining and Energy Conference, where Ching’andu made a presentation to investors and executives.
The 30-year concession will be structured into three years of construction work and 27 years of operation and maintenance, Ching’andu said, adding that negotiations between both sides have not yet been completed.
The CCECC investment in TAZARA is a significant boost to China’s lending to Africa, which hit a 20-year low in 2022 after peaking at $28.4bn in 2016, said Reuters.
