China, Zambia and Tanzania have struck a $1.4 billion deal to modernise the ageing Tanzania–Zambia Railway, a lifeline for moving copper out of southern Africa.
- China, Zambia, and Tanzania have agreed on a $1.4 billion modernisation project for the Tanzania–Zambia Railway.
- The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) will manage a 30-year concession for reconstruction and operations.
- This railway modernisation supports copper exports from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo by improving logistical alternatives.
- The effort rivals the US- and EU-backed Lobito corridor linking the copper belt to Africa’s west coast.
China, Zambia and Tanzania have struck a $1.4 billion deal to modernise the ageing Tanzania–Zambia Railway, a lifeline for moving copper out of southern Africa. Zambia’s government announced the agreement on Monday.
Built in the 1970s with Chinese financing and engineering under Mao Zedong, the 1,860-kilometre (1,160-mile) line, known as Tazara, has deteriorated to a fraction of its original capacity.
Under the terms, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) will take on a 30-year concession: the first three years focus on reconstruction, track upgrades, safety improvements and restoring the line; the following 27 years will involve full operational management, including rolling stock procurement and maintenance.
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New trains and wagons
Part of the investment will go toward new locomotives (32), some 762 wagons and passenger coaches, modern maintenance workshops, upgraded signalling and communications, and staff training.
Beijing had already signed a preliminary accord last year to revive Tazara, even as Washington and Brussels threw their weight behind a competing transport corridor centred on Angola’s Lobito port.
Once restored, Tazara would offer landlocked copper producers a crucial alternative to South Africa’s congested ports and border crossings, where surging output from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo has clogged road traffic.
It will also go head-to-head with the US- and EU-backed Lobito corridor, which links the same copper belt to an Atlantic outlet on Africa’s west coast.
