PREVIEW
Tazara line to be refurbished by Chinese company for $1.4 billion
The agreement struck on 20 November between China, Zambia and Tanzania to refurbish and reopen the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) railway line at a cost of US$1.4 billion looks like a direct response by Beijing to the Lobito Corridor rail project promoted by the United States and the European Union (AC Vol 66 No 22, Brussels pushes Global Gateway to rival US-China deal-making).
The 1,860-kilometre network between Tanzania and Zambia was built by China in the 1970s to facilitate copper exports and fuel imports through Tanzania. Officials in Lusaka, where the deal was signed, say that the project will modernise the railway with a view to increasing freight volumes on the line from 100,000 to 2.4 million tonnes per year.
It also promises to cut transportation time by two-thirds and reduce the costs of freighting minerals and agricultural produce. It looks like a move by Beijing to cement its position as the main player in Zambia’s copper market (AC Vol 65 No 23, Leaders look for deals in the Trump marketplace).
The rival $5bn Lobito Corridor is being pushed by the US and EU as a way to link Zambia’s copper belt and Congo-Kinshasa's mineral-rich Katanga region with Lobito port on Angola’s Atlantic Coast. Though US officials have expressed hope that the Lobito network could be extended to Dar es Salaam, this is a long-term aspiration.
Unlike the Lobito network, where contracts will not necessarily go to US and European firms, Tazara will be rebuilt and then operated by the China Railway Construction Corporation, making it a typical Belt and Road Initiative project.
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