The United States plans to provide up to $1 billion to support the rehabilitation and operation of a key railway in Democratic Republic of Congo under a 30-year concession, as Washington seeks to secure access to critical minerals and reduce reliance on China-dominated supply chains.
Portugal’s Mota-Engil is expected to sign a concession agreement to take control of the Congolese section of the Lobito Corridor.
The roughly 1,000-km railway links major mining centres in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, including Kolwezi, Tenke and Lubumbashi, to the wider Lobito Corridor, which runs through Angola to the Atlantic port of Lobito.
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation signed a letter of interest with Mota-Engil in December for financing of up to $1 billion to support rehabilitation and operation of the Congolese railway.
Mota-Engil already operates part of the Lobito Corridor in Angola through a joint venture with commodities trader Trafigura.
The expansion into Democratic Republic of Congo would give Mota-Engil a long-term role in a transport network that is increasingly important to efforts to move Central Africa’s minerals to international markets.
Democratic Republic of Congo is the world’s second-largest copper producer and the leading producer of cobalt, minerals used in electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure and other advanced technologies.
China has a dominant position in Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining sector, controlling a significant share of the country’s copper and cobalt production and processing capacity.
Washington has increasingly sought to deepen economic and mineral ties with Kinshasa as it tries to diversify Western supply chains away from China.
The railway investment comes as the United States and China compete for influence over African infrastructure and access to minerals considered strategically important to the global energy transition.
China is separately advancing a $1.4 billion overhaul of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, or TAZARA, which links Zambia’s copper belt with the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam.
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Faustine Ngila is the AI Editor at Impact Newswire, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is an award-winning journalist specializing in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and emerging technologies.
He previously worked as a global technology reporter at Quartz in New York and Digital Frontier in London, where he covered innovation, startups, and the global digital economy.
With years of experience reporting on cutting-edge technologies, Faustine focuses on AI developments, industry trends, and the impact of technology on society.
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