IN SHORT: The Africa Finance Corporation is in advanced talks with at least 10 regional and international lenders, including Citi, Standard Bank, Absa and Ecobank, to raise $3 to $5 billion for the new rail lines in Zambia (515 kilometres) and the DRC (315 kilometres) that form the core of the Lobito Corridor. AFC plans to launch the financing effort in Q3 2026, targeting financial close in Q4 2027 and construction completion by 2030. Nine engineering, procurement and construction contractors visited the Zambian site in April; bids are expected in May.
The Lobito Corridor, Africa’s most strategically consequential infrastructure project and the primary battleground in the US-China competition for critical mineral supply chains, has moved from planning to active construction procurement while AFC assembles a $3 to $5 billion financing coalition to fund the new rail lines connecting Zambia and the DRC to Angola’s Atlantic port.
AFC CEO Samaila Zubairu confirmed at the conclusion of the Africa We Build Summit on April 30 that the project has completed feasibility studies, environmental assessments and concession agreements, and has entered the EPC procurement stage. Senior AFC official Osaruyi Orobosa provided Reuters and CNBC Africa with the financing detail.
- AFC is in discussions with at least 10 lenders. Named institutions include Citi, South Africa’s Standard Bank, Absa, and pan-African Ecobank. The AfDB and Italian government are also confirmed backers. The financing structure calls for Zambia’s Industrial Development Corporation and Angola’s sovereign wealth fund to each take 10% equity stakes in the Special Purpose Vehicle that will oversee construction and operations, aligning national interests with the project’s success.
- The project scope covers three components: Lot 1A, the Angolan portion connecting to the existing Benguela Railway; Lot 1B, 515 kilometres of new rail in Zambia connecting the copperbelt and North-Western Province to the DRC border; and a third component for supporting infrastructure systems. The DRC section adds a further 315 kilometres. When complete, the corridor provides Angola, Zambia and the DRC with a single integrated rail and port network connecting landlocked mineral regions to the Atlantic for the first time.
- The AFC has already committed approximately $500 million to the project. The Angola portion, the existing 1,300-kilometre Benguela Railway rehabilitation, was separately financed in December 2025 with $753 million from the US DFC and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
- Nine EPC contractors, described as mainly European, conducted site visits in Zambia in April. Bids are due in May and the evaluation process is scheduled to conclude by mid-2026. Preferred contractors could be selected between July and August, with construction contracts awarded shortly thereafter and early-stage works potentially beginning by late 2026 or early 2027.
- AFC expects to launch the financing effort formally in Q3 2026, targeting financial close in Q4 2027 and corridor completion by 2030. The original target of financial close in 2026 has slipped due to project complexity. ECDPM analysts have noted the risk of further delays from upcoming elections in Zambia in 2026 and Angola in 2027, which could introduce policy shift risk to the trilateral cooperation the corridor requires.
- The strategic context is explicit. The Lobito Corridor is the US and EU’s primary answer to China’s railway investments in Africa, specifically the Chinese-backed TAZARA upgrade connecting Zambia to Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port. AFC CEO Zubairu explicitly positioned the corridor as the continent’s first open-access transcontinental railway and a clean corridor for critical minerals.
- MSC’s intermodal Africa manager Caroline Trefault described the corridor as offering "an Atlantic alternative for copper and cobalt exports, reducing transit times to Europe and the Americas, and reinforcing regional integration objectives under AfCFTA."
Orobosa said outside Lobito, the AFC will also invest in the construction of the new East African refinery announced by Dangote at the AFC We Build Summit, noting the organisation’s previous involvement in the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria through debt financing.
The Bigger Picture: The Lobito Corridor has been described so often as transformational that the word has lost meaning. The practical test is simpler: does it move minerals faster and cheaper than the alternatives? If it does, it reshapes how DRC cobalt and Zambian copper reach global markets, who captures the freight revenue, and which port becomes the gateway for central African extraction. The US has committed billions, the EU has followed, and nine EPC contractors have already visited the site. The financing gap is closing. Whether the value addition follows, whether DRC, Zambia and Angola use the corridor as leverage to process rather than simply export their minerals, is the question that will determine whether this is a 21st-century development asset or a 20th-century extraction corridor in new clothes.
*Source: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2026/afc-lines-up-regional-international-lenders-including-citi-for-lobito-corridor”>CNBC Africa / <a href="https://iol.co.za/business-report/companies/2026-04-28-lobito-corridor-project-advances-to-construction-bidding-phase-as-financing-builds-momentum/”>IOL, April 30, 2026
