The Lobito corridor: A flagship Biden project’s progress and future

The United States government has played a limited role in infrastructure development in low-income countries, but a flagship project by the Biden administration seeks to redefine how the country supports large-scale projects, positioning it as a competitive force against China’s global influence. The Lobito corridor will connect Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo via a rail that runs to the Lobito port in Angola, with the potential to extend to Tanzania in the future. The initiative involves updating existing railway lines and building 800 kilometers of new tracks, mostly in Zambia. The vision behind the project is to establish a transformative economic corridor that will drive development and prosperity for communities along its route. The U.S. has invested about $4 billion into projects along the corridor, including the railroad itself, President Joe Biden said at an event in Angola on Wednesday. His visit to the country and this project, in the final weeks of his administration, not only fulfills a promise to visit the African continent but also underscores the strategic importance of the Lobito corridor to his administration and his legacy. “All these projects’ investments are designed to have high impact, to meet the highest standards for workers, for the environment and for the communities. Because the United States understands how we invest in Africa is just as important as how much we invest in Africa,” Biden said at the event. “Nations across the Lobito corridor have solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. We just need to work together … to mobilize more capital, build more infrastructure … [and] help Africa lead the way.” African leaders at the event voiced their enthusiasm for the transformative potential of the project. They highlighted its promise to improve international trade, regional integration, the energy transition, food security, and the global economy. Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema called it a “huge opportunity” poised to bring about a “fundamental change to our countries, our economies, our people.” DRC President Felix Tshisekedi described it as a “project full of hope” with the potential to create about 30,000 jobs and dramatically reduce transportation times. It is “more than just a transportation axis, it is a unique opportunity for regional integration, economic transformation and to improve the living conditions of our fellow citizens,” he said. A project as ambitious as the Lobito corridor inevitably brings challenges and questions about its feasibility and long-term impact. Can it truly serve as a blueprint for a new type of infrastructure development, one that moves beyond the extractive relationships of the past? And while work is already underway, concerns remain about whether momentum will continue, particularly with the incoming Trump administration potentially reshaping U.S. priorities. The project Lobito stands as a flagship project and test case of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, or PGI, a U.S.-led Group of Seven major economies’ initiative focused on high-quality infrastructure in low-income countries. “It’s a fundamentally different approach to our engagement on the continent using development resources in different ways,” Tom Sheehy, a distinguished fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Africa Center, told Devex. The project’s first phase includes refurbishing nearly 1,300 kilometers of existing railway in Angola, while the second phase focuses on building 800 kilometers of new railroad in Zambia and Angola. Alongside the railroad, a wide array of investments has been made by the U.S., the European Union’s Global Gateway project, the African Development Bank, and the private sector. The route is designed to improve access to critical minerals, such as copper, lithium, cobalt, and zinc, reducing the time it takes to bring these resources to international markets and making them more competitive. For the U.S., securing reliable supplies of these minerals — crucial for renewable energy, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence technologies — is a strategic priority. For African nations, the project offers an opportunity to improve shipping infrastructure and develop key sectors. A new consortium took over the Angolan rail line in January, implementing changes that have reduced transit times from weeks to days. By August, the first shipment of copper through the Lobito port departed to the U.S., with the journey from DRC taking just six days, highlighting the route’s potential export efficiency. The Africa Finance Corporation, or AFC, is the lead developer for the new railroad — phase two of the project. Over the past year, it has conducted feasibility studies, signed the concession agreement, and begun technical studies, including an environmental impact assessment and designs. Construction is expected to begin simultaneously in Zambia and Angola by early 2026, with AFC committing $500 million to the project. The railway is projected to generate $3 billion in economic potential for Angola and Zambia, initially transporting 1.5–2 million tons of freight, scaling up to 3.5–4 million tons. “This is creating a huge economic corridor,” Osaruyi Orobosa-Ogbeide, acting head of project development and the lead on the Lobito project at AFC, told Devex. Beyond minerals, the project could support agricultural goods, boosting livelihoods for farmers, especially with investments in grain siloes and other infrastructure along the corridor. The third phase of the project seeks to deepen U.S. engagement in DRC, expand economic benefits to Tanzania, and explore additional sectors beyond rail. Helaina Matza, acting special coordinator for the project at the U.S. Department of State described the corridor as “the most ambitious commercially led infrastructure on the continent that the U.S. has supported.” She emphasized the importance of its commercially led design, which aligns with the administration’s broader strategy for African development. “I try to really double down on commercially led because I think that’s a really important element of the way that we’re trying to design this work,” she said at a press conference earlier this year. The project also represents a major shift in U.S.-Angola relations, long dominated by Angola’s alignment with China. It is part of a broader U.S. initiative to deepen engagement in the country, highlighted by USAID’s decision this week to open a mission there. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, now has a portfolio exceeding $700 million in Angola, including a $553 million loan to the Lobito Atlantic Railway for rail upgrades. At the start of Biden’s term in office, investments were zero. “It’s just an indication of what we can do when the conditions are right and the government in place is really forward-leaning and wanting to bring private sector and U.S.-led development into the country,” a DFC official told Devex. Beyond the railway, DFC is exploring a loan to Angola’s largest food producer for grain storage equipment and providing up to $150 million in political risk insurance to expand access to clean water. Other U.S. investments include agriculture, clean energy, digital connectivity, bridges, and financial services. “There’s been obviously a lot of focus on the hard infrastructure that’s really the backbone of this concept. But the vision is much broader,” the DFC official said. The challenges The Lobito corridor is a massive project that demands extensive political coordination, diverse funding types, and careful navigation of geopolitical tensions and competition. Aligning the interests of the three participating countries — each with distinct interests — poses a significant challenge, according to Sheehy. Price volatility in the critical minerals market could also hinder efforts to generate sufficient traffic, potentially threatening the railway’s economic viability. Others have raised concerns that existing export routes, such as the Tazara railway from Zambia to Tanzania, which China is currently refurbishing, could undermine demand for the Lobito corridor. “It’s important but we need to be clear-eyed. If it’s going to work, it’s going to take a sustained effort and have to overcome difficulties and challenges,” Sheehy said. To address these risks, AFC has secured freight commitments from mining companies, including U.S.-based KoBold Metals, which pledged more than 300,000 tons of copper annually from its Mingomba mine through the Lobito railway. Other agreements account for another 170,000 tons of minimum freight commitments, strengthening the project’s financial case. AFC has encountered operational challenges in the first year of developing the new rail line, including a border crossing needing rerouting to optimize efficiency, said AFC’s Orobosa-Ogbeide. The Angolan and Zambian governments executed the change in less than three weeks, decisions that can take more than a year. Unexploded land mines pose another problem, prompting the Angolan government to address the issue, he said. “The political will on this project is unprecedented,” he said, adding that governments are moving more quickly on this project than others he’s been involved in. “We see a full alignment” at the political and bureaucratic levels at the countries involved. But Zainab Usman, director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, warned that implementing a regional infrastructure project is complicated even in the best case scenario. “Competition is very, very real,” she said. While she acknowledged the importance of U.S. economic engagement, she cautioned that the Lobito corridor risks perpetuating extractive practices. “It’s good that finally, the U.S. is getting involved in infrastructure projects in Africa; at the same time, it’s still an extractive project,” she said, explaining that much of the cargo consists of unprocessed minerals, which “is not that different from the status quo.” “To ultimately help these countries they need to have processing of minerals and other commodities such as agriculture,” Usman said, adding that the initiative holds promise if the full package of projects — encompassing energy, roads, and manufacturing — is successfully delivered. “It’s going to be very important to demonstrate success in this project,” she said. The future The incoming Trump administration’s stance on the project remains unclear, though a trio of former Trump administration officials suggest it aligns with priorities to counter China and promote private-sector-led development. Francis Fannon, who served as U.S. assistant secretary of state for energy resources, called Lobito a “grand experiment” that is “worthwhile to continue to develop.” While work to date has been promising, more needs to be done to build around the rail line and create an ecosystem and other infrastructure, which is part of the plan, he said. “The more that business, the private sector continues to speak in favor of it. I think that should kind of win the day in the end,” Fanoon said. “I think that the Trump administration would approach it with a degree of pragmatism. If something’s private sector led, that’s going to be substantive into the decision-making process.” AFC’s Orobosa-Ogbeide expressed confidence in the project’s bipartisan support, he said, noting that U.S. investors are driven more by risk appetite than political dynamics. There is a plan in place for moving forward in the process that doesn’t take into account who is in office or out, he told Devex. “No matter how you skin and open it all up, we seem to be more comfortable that the objective is bipartisan. The goal is bigger than individuals in terms of their preferences,” Orobosa-Ogbeide said. If successful, the Lobito corridor could become a replicable model for infrastructure development. While experts stress the importance of ensuring this project’s success before pursuing similar initiatives, AFC believes its approach will set a valuable precedent. “When we are successful with the Lobito project, and even before financial close, it will be something to copy in terms of being able to replicate it on other projects,” Orobosa-Ogbeide said. “Projects are not happening fast enough on the continent.”