Africa Finance Corporation and the African Development Bank have each pledged $500m towards a railway project connecting Zambia’s copper-producing regions to Angola’s port of Lobito.

Italy will add a further $320m, according to Africa Finance Corporation executive director and chief investment officer Sameh Shenouda, who was speaking at a conference in Nairobi, reported Bloomberg.

Africa Finance Corporation is serving as lead developer and sponsor of the project.

The 830km rail scheme is projected to require as much as $5bn in investment and is due to be completed by 2030.

Once operational, the corridor is expected to cut cargo transit times to seven days from 16 days and deliver an estimated $3bn in economic benefits for Angola and Zambia.

It includes two parts: the upgrade of an existing railway linking the Atlantic port of Lobito with southern Democratic Republic of Congo, and a newly built extension into Zambia’s Northwestern and Copperbelt provinces.

In Zambia, the line represents the country’s biggest rail infrastructure project since the 1970s, when China backed and constructed a route connecting the copperbelt to a Tanzanian port on the Indian Ocean.

Shenouda said nine engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors had already visited the site.

Bids are scheduled to be submitted in May, with assessments set to take place later this year.

“We will select the EPC contractor by July or August and we will break ground before the end of the year or maybe the first month of 2027,” Shenouda was quoted as saying.

The project is aiming to reach financial close in the fourth quarter of 2027.

The Lobito Corridor has been presented by the US and the European Union as an important route for securing supplies of critical minerals such as copper and cobalt, while also challenging China’s influence in Africa.