China to agree on concession for Mao-era Africa railway by year-end

Heads of state of the three countries last week witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding to restore the 1,860-kilometer (1,160 miles) railway that Mao Zedong’s China financed and helped build in the 1970s. That signaled the start of its biggest upgrade yet, which the Chinese government previously said would see it investing more than $1 billion.

“We are currently engaged in active negotiations with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corp.,” the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

The line may play a crucial role in the energy transition, as copper and cobalt mine operators in Zambia and neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo seek routes to get their growing production to ports. Trucking already faces logjams and journeys that take weeks. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway will compete with a US-backed rail line known as the Lobito corridor that runs westward to an Angolan port.

The rehabilitation of infrastructure and rolling stock will take about two years, Tazara said. The concession period will be as long as 30 years, and annual tonnage on the line carries will quadruple to about 2 million tons, it said.