Zambia is where the Lobito Corridor's most ambitious — and most uncertain — chapter is being written. Unlike the Angola and DRC sections that rehabilitate existing colonial-era railway, the Zambian extension requires construction of an entirely new 530-kilometre greenfield railway connecting Angola's border to Zambia's Copperbelt region. With construction targeted to begin in 2026 and completion by 2029, this is the link that would transform the corridor from a bilateral Angola-DRC logistics route into a truly transcontinental trade artery — potentially extending all the way to the Indian Ocean via Tanzania.

Role in the Corridor

The planned Zambian section comprises a new 530-kilometre railway running from Luacano in Angola to Chingola in Zambia's Copperbelt Province. This greenfield construction — building entirely new track rather than rehabilitating existing infrastructure — represents the most technically complex and capital-intensive component of the corridor project.

The Africa Finance Corporation serves as the lead developer for the Zambian extension, with AFC President and CEO Samaila Zubairu committing to mobilise USD 500 million in financing through various instruments, bringing overall project financing to over USD 1 billion. AFC has established a memorandum of understanding with KoBold Metals — the Bill Gates-backed critical minerals exploration company — as an anchor client, securing a minimum of 300,000 tonnes of copper and related freight annually.

AFC has also committed USD 100 million to Kobaloni Energy to support Zambia's first battery-grade copper sulphate facility, ensuring sustained cargo for the new railway. This represents an integrated approach: building both the transport infrastructure and the processing capacity to utilise it.

Once completed, the Zambian extension would create Africa's first open-access transcontinental rail link, connecting the Atlantic port of Lobito to Zambia's mining heartland. Plans are under discussion to further extend connectivity to Tanzania's Port of Dar es Salaam — linking the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and creating an unprecedented east-west trade corridor across Southern Africa.

Zambia's Copper Economy

Zambia is Africa's second-largest copper producer, with mining concentrated in the Copperbelt Province centred on cities including Kitwe, Ndola, Mufulira, and Chingola. The country's economy is heavily dependent on copper exports, which generate the majority of foreign exchange earnings and a significant share of government revenue.

For decades, Zambia's copper exports have been constrained by infrastructure bottlenecks. As a landlocked country, Zambia depends on neighbouring countries' transport networks to reach international markets. The primary export route runs south through Zimbabwe and Mozambique or via South Africa's ports — lengthy, costly, and subject to congestion and political disruption. The TAZARA railway to Dar es Salaam offers an eastern alternative but has suffered from decades of underinvestment.

The Lobito Corridor offers Zambia something it has never had: a direct westward route to the Atlantic Ocean, with dramatically shorter transit times to European and American markets. The corridor could reduce transport time from the Copperbelt to international markets from 45 days by road to approximately seven days by rail. This cost and time reduction could make previously uneconomical ore grades viable to mine, expanding Zambia's productive mining frontier.

The TAZARA Competition

Zambia's corridor dynamics cannot be understood without reference to TAZARA — the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. Built in the 1970s with Chinese financing and expertise as a symbol of Sino-African solidarity, the 1,860-kilometre TAZARA line connects Zambia's Copperbelt to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam.

In September 2025, China signed a USD 1.4 billion agreement with Zambia and Tanzania to rehabilitate TAZARA — explicitly responding to the Western-backed Lobito Corridor. This creates a remarkable situation: both the United States and China are investing billions in competing railway corridors serving the same mining regions, with Zambia positioned at the intersection of both.

For Zambia, this competition is strategically advantageous. Having two major powers investing in rival transport routes gives Zambia leverage to negotiate better terms, higher standards, and greater domestic benefit from both. The government has signalled its intention to maintain relationships with both corridors, maximising export route diversification while extracting concessions from each.

The competition also creates accountability dynamics. If the Lobito Corridor claims higher ESG standards than Chinese alternatives, it must demonstrably deliver on those claims. If TAZARA offers competitive pricing, Lobito must match or justify the differential. Communities along both routes benefit from this competitive pressure.

Political and Economic Context

President Hakainde Hichilema, elected in 2021 on a reform platform, has made the Lobito Corridor a centrepiece of his economic strategy. Hichilema participated in the December 2024 Lobito Corridor Leaders Summit alongside Presidents Biden and Lourenço, signalling Zambia's commitment at the highest political level.

Zambia's economic reform agenda includes restructuring sovereign debt (Zambia defaulted in 2020 and completed a complex debt restructuring process), attracting new mining investment, and diversifying the economy beyond copper extraction. The corridor fits this agenda by reducing export costs, attracting investment in value-added processing, and positioning Zambia as a logistics crossroads.

The November 2025 EU-Zambia Lobito Corridor Business Forum in Lusaka brought over 300 European and Zambian businesses together, with targeted sessions on agriculture, energy, and mining investment opportunities. EU Ambassador Karolina Stasiak emphasised the forum's goal of "bringing together grants, loans, and private investment" to create "lasting impact on the ground."

Community and Environmental Considerations

The Zambian greenfield extension presents distinct community and environmental challenges compared to the Angola and DRC sections. Because this is entirely new construction rather than rehabilitation of existing track, the environmental and social impact is potentially more significant.

The US Trade and Development Agency has funded an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the Zambian extension, conducted by the Africa Finance Corporation. This assessment covers air and water quality, natural disaster and climate risk, and strategies to mitigate the impacts of developing the new rail line. The physical inspection of the proposed route began in early 2025.

Zambian parliamentarians have raised concerns that "the project appeared to focus more on mopping up critical raw materials and not value addition" — reflecting a broader debate about whether the corridor serves Zambia's development interests or primarily functions as an export pipeline for Western mineral security.

IIED researchers have warned that land acquisition for construction may provoke backlash and long-running disputes if handled poorly, emphasising that "effective community engagement and fair compensation will be vital." The corridor route passes through agricultural areas where land tenure is complex and community attachment is strong.

Environmental considerations include biodiversity impacts in areas not previously subject to major infrastructure, water resource effects, and the carbon footprint of construction — balanced against the long-term emissions reduction from shifting freight from road to rail (estimated at 300,000 tonnes of CO2 annually).

Our Work in Zambia

Lobito Corridor's work in Zambia focuses on the unique challenges of greenfield construction: monitoring the ESIA process and its adequacy; tracking land acquisition and community consultation as the route is finalised; assessing whether the corridor delivers genuine value addition or functions primarily as a mineral export pipeline; analysing the implications of competing TAZARA and Lobito investments for Zambian leverage and community outcomes; and documenting the experiences of communities along the planned route as construction approaches.

We engage with Zambian civil society organisations, parliamentary oversight bodies, and research institutions to ensure that the Zambian extension is developed with the community protections and development outcomes that its scale demands.