China is putting $1 billion in the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara), a major corridor linking Tanzania’s commercial capital and main port of Dar es Salaam and Zambia’s Copperbelt.

Beijing sees Tazara as crucial in facilitating mineral exports from Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the race for critical metals in the production of electric vehicle batteries and fuelling the 4th Industrial Revolution technologies heats up between China, the US and the European Union.

Tanzania and its partners are rehabilitating the 1,860-kilometre railway and China’s leader Xi Jinping says he is ready to push for new progress in improving the East African sea rail combined transport network, “and make Tanzania a demonstration zone for deepening China-Africa high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.”

Addressing the last Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing last month after holding talks with Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan, President Xi pledged support for the Tazara project, which Tanzanians see as crucial to ensuring they stay relevant in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The BRI is Beijing’s programme to connect allies with infrastructure to support trade. In 2022, Tanzania joined the initiative, and Beijing elevated their relations to strategic status.

“The Tanzanian side highly appreciates the BRI put forward by President Xi and is glad to witness the re-activation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway,” President Samia said when she met with Xi on September 5.

Samia had been to China earlier in November 2022 on a State visit, in which the projects were discussed.

“Tanzania is ready to actively work with China to advance Belt and Road cooperation and bring more tangible benefits to the people,” she said.

The Tazara project was part of the discussions that President Samia held with President Xi during her November 2022 and September 2024 visits to China.

During the November 2022 visit, 15 bilateral agreements were signed. These included an upgrade of the Tazara, a $13.49 million debt waiver, and a $56.72 million concessional loan for Zanzibar’s International Airport terminal.

But, as Beijing develops the Tazara, which it sees as “a symbol of China-Africa friendship” and China’s largest-ever African foreign aid project, America is also scrambling to exert its influence on the same region, with Tanzania now caught in between and poised to reap huge benefits as a logistical hub.

Washington is banking on the Lobito Corridor, a 1,300km stretch of railway line from the port of Lobito on the Angolan Atlantic Ocean coast to the town of Luau on the northeastern border of Angola with the DRC and within reach of northwestern Zambia. The railway line extends a farther 400km into the DRC to the mining town of Kolwezi.

And the US last month announced the official joining of Tanzania to the project, in what is seen as a response to China’s plans for the Tazara. It is more practical to use the Indian Ocean coast in the East for the transportation of minerals than the Atlantic to the west.

But still, for the Western interests, led by the US and the European Union, linking the Copperbelt with the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean through Tanzania is also a geopolitical counter move in their race to counter Beijing.

The US has been critical of China’s grand infrastructure projects for what it says is unsustainable levels of debt African countries end up taking on.

Helaina Matza, US acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), said that Washington is approaching the Lobito Corridor infrastructure differently -- implying that the US is not keen on piling up debt on the African countries involved in the project.

“What we’re doing is not trying to expand upon the debt of the countries we’re working in. We’re working directly with not only the host governments but private partners in how to finance these projects. And this is why that’s important,” Matza said during her visit to Tanzania at the end of August.

The African Finance Corporation (AFC), the lead developer of the Zambia-Lobito project, recently signed a concession agreement with the governments of Zambia and Angola to develop and operate the rail on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City, during which US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded a technical assistance grant of $2 million to the AFC for an environmental and social impact assessment.

“The Lobito Corridor – connecting Angola, Zambia, and the DRC – is one of our biggest projects,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the ceremony. “The ultimate goal is infrastructure connecting the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Today, Tanzania is also joining conversations about the Lobito Corridor for the first time – something we very much welcome.”

The expansion of the Lobito Corridor to include Tanzania is meant to allow the project to run all the way to the Indian Ocean to facilitate transportation of nickel and other minerals.

Mr Blinken said that so far, the US and its partners have committed over $4 billion to Lobito Corridor projects.

USTDA Director Enoh T. Ebong said the project would facilitate economic activity, trade and critical minerals development between the Port of Lobito in Angola and Zambia’s Copperbelt.

“This project will help reshape the economic landscape of Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it will foster trade while uplifting the people whose livelihoods will be tied to economic activity along the corridor,” Dr Ebong said.

“Support for the rail line will contribute to the development of the Lobito Corridor, a US government priority under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) that seeks to provide a private sector-driven, sustainable and transparent option for emerging markets seeking infrastructure investment to accelerate inclusive economic development.”

Samaila Zubairu, President and chief executive of AFC, said that once completed, the Zambia Lobito Rail Corridor will establish a transcontinental trade corridor that will facilitate trade and investment across Africa and in various sectors, including mining, agriculture, energy and tourism. Other partners are the European Union and the African Development Bank.

The US says it does not intend to use the Lobito Corridor to exploit minerals but instead said their model is designed for economic growth in Angola, Zambia, DRC and Tanzania.

“This model really is not designed to be extractive. It’s designed for economic growth, which I know sometimes sounds like a buzz word, but that’s why we’re focused on trade moving in both directions,” Matza said. “It’s not about, for us, extracting ore.

Angolan authorities say the Lobito Corridor should be up and running after they circulated wagons on the railway line between Benguela and the border with DRC, from where they return with minerals.

Ricardo Viegas d’Abreu, Angola’s Transport Minister, said that an average of five trains a week operate on the line.

Whether by China or the US, the countries tapped in these projects see opportunity to expand their own infrastructure. Last week, Luanda signed the concession agreements for the financing, construction, ownership and operation of the rail transformation project, which aims to establish a link between Angola and Zambia.

This project involves the construction of a new railway line, about 800 kilometres long, to connect the Benguela railway in Luacano, Angola, to the existing Zambian railway line in Chingola.

The agreements were signed with the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the government of Angola, represented by its transport minister, and the government of Zambia, represented by Mr Frank Tayali, Minister of Transport.

Last month, President João Lourenço asked the Benguela provincial government to pay special attention to the Lobito Corridor project, which he said, “will allow the province to gain a lot of investment.”

### Regional logistics link

According to the President, Angolan government hopes to turn the Lobito Corridor into a primary regional logistics line and a gateway to development in sub-Saharan Africa, with an increase in import and export traffic.

“The province is therefore going to gain a lot of investment, not just in the transport and logistics sector, but, by extension, other sectors of the province’s economy will also benefit from this mega project that is the Lobito Corridor,” President Lourenço said.

Yet, one likely winner could emerge from the race. China, for instance, says it plans to carry out 30 major related projects in the next three years to support African connectivity.

Tazara is among them. In Tanzania, a Chinese state-owned firm is expected take over the concession of the railway by end of 2024.

“We are ready to assist in the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area and deepen logistics and financial cooperation for the benefit of trans-regional development in Africa,” President Xi said in September.

Five decades after it was first built, Tazara had fallen into disrepair and is in financial doldrums, with only 10 locomotives in use, instead of its capacity of 50.

The minerals in Zambia and DRC are critical in the production of electric vehicle batteries. China currently dominates the market for the strategic supply chains for the energy transition.

The International Energy Agency has estimated that between 2020 and 2040, demand for nickel and cobalt will increase by twentyfold, for graphite 25 times, and for lithium more than 40 times.

This projected surge in demand for CRMs has driven interest in the Lobito Corridor, and with it an inevitable scramble for access.

The DRC, as the world’s largest producer of cobalt, estimates are consistently around 70 percent of global production, has found itself at the epicentre of this scramble, as has Zambia, and now Tanzania, as the logistics hub.

*Additional reporting by Arnaldo Vieira*