World Bank Pitches $28B of Investment Opportunities Along Lobito Corridor at 2nd Coordination Meeting
From 5 to 6 October 2026, the 2nd #LobitoCorridor Coordination Meeting took place at the InterContinental Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia. This 2nd Meeting was co-convened by the Zambian Ministry of Finance and National Planning and the World Bank Group.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema attended the important meeting, while Angola, DR Congo, and the European Union were represented by high-level delegations. The objective of the Meeting is to move from discussion to implementation, and to extend beyond mining into other economic sectors.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the private sector arm of the World Bank Group — conducted an assessment of the potential the Lobito Corridor and presented its findings. Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of Operations at IFC, mapped out 118 investment opportunities along the Lobito Corridor across the countries of Angola, DR Congo and Zambia, spanning mining, clean energy, agribusiness, logistics and forestry. These projects in the pipeline represent an investment opportunity pool of around USD 28 billion.
Zambia pitched the greenfield railway link from the mining hub of Chingola in the #Copperbelt region to Luacano on the border with Angola. That Zambia segment is a little more than 500 kilometers in length. The AFC reported that it completed the Environmental and Socio-Economic Impact Assessments (ESIA) and the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) a few months ago.
The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is leading the mobilization of funds. The cost of the Project is estimated at approximately USD 5 billion and the Zambian government has committed to raising about USD 1.5 billion. So far, Zambia has been able to secure a loan of USD 255 million from the African Development Bank and a grant of USD 10 million from Italy’s #MatteiPlan. As part of its Global Gateway Initiative (#GGI), EU Ambassador Stasiak expressed Team Europe’s particular interest in financing the border posts and delivering clean energy projects via the European Investment Bank (EIB).
So far, several partners have pledged their support, including the AFC’s USD 500 million; AfDB’s USD 500 million; the USA’s USD 533 million; and Italy’s USD 320 million. Still, a financing gap of USD 700 million exists, and the IFC expressed its readiness to contribute to bridge that gap and push the project into the implementation stage.
The Zambian segment rests on the offtake agreement with KoBold Metals, which will act as an anchor and provide a base operating revenue. Actually, KoBold signed an MoU with AFC back in October 2024, when KoBold also announced its target of moving 300,000 tonnes of #copper along the corridor annually. Similarly, First Quantum Minerals has signed a Minimum Freight Agreement with AFC for an allocation of 170,000 tonnes annually.
The Final Investment Decision of the upgrade of the 1,300-km stretch was achieved back in July 2026 with the backing of Trafigura. For the greenfield Zambian extension, FID is targeted by 4Q27.
The Lobito Atlantic Railway has already initiated the upgrade of the existing segment connecting the seaport of Lobito in Angola to Ndola in the Copperbelt region on the Congolese side. The stakeholders are targeting 2030 to complete the Lobito Corridor Project.