Benguela – The world will have its attention turned to the city of Benguela this Wednesday, as a witness to the unprecedented Multilateral Summit on the Lobito Corridor, one of the highlights of the visit to Angola by the President of the United States, Joe Biden.
The meeting takes place at the Carrinho Industrial Compound, located in the Taka area, on the outskirts of Benguela, with the presence of the Presidents of Angola, United States of America, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia and Tanzania, respectively, João Lourenço, Joe Biden, Félix Tshisekedi, Hakainde Hichilema and Samia Suluhu.
The five leaders will meet at the premises of the largest factory in the country, with an eye on accelerating the attraction of the necessary investments for the Lobito Corridor, which could interconnect the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
As the director of African Affairs at the US National Security Council, Frances Brown, recently said, her country has so far mobilized billions of dollars for this project, and "Joe Biden will engage with various components of that infrastructure effort and will elevate them."
On the occasion, the coordinator of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) at the US Department of State, Helaina Matza, said that the US is an important member of the project, especially for its second phase.
This phase includes the construction of 800 new kilometres on the railway line that crosses Angola, Zambia and DRC, which will add to the existing 1,344 kilometres that are being renovated, Matza said.
The objective, he said, is to reduce the transit time from Zambia and southern DRC to the Angolan port of Lobito, from the current 45 days to less than a week.
The coordinator stressed that these rail investments reduce land transport costs and times, open access to arable agricultural land and strengthen the supply chain for critical energy minerals, "driving climate-resilient economic growth in the region".
In the last 18 months, the US has mobilized almost five billion dollars for the corridor itself and for "investments in new clean energy projects, including solar energy", as well as other initiatives to support the population and small farmers.
The U.S. plays a key role in supporting the development of the Corridor, including investments in infrastructure and equipment, as well as measures to facilitate trade and transit.
There are also investments in sectors related to the promotion of sustainable and inclusive growth and other capital sectors (agricultural value chains, energy, transport/logistics, education and technical and vocational training) in Angola, the DRC and Zambia.
Lobito Corridor
Privately managed for a period of 30 years, through the 'Lobito Atlantic Railway' Consortium, formed by the companies Vecturis, Trafigura and Mota Engil, the Lobito Corridor includes the Port, the Mining Terminal, the Catumbela International Airport and the Benguela Railway (CFB), whose line extends for 1,344 kilometers to Luau, in Moxico.
Given the strategic role for regional economic development, more than two billion dollars were invested in the rehabilitation and modernization of the infrastructure and rolling stock of the Corridor, with a view to boosting the transport of various goods, benefiting the three bordering countries.
The Angolan government is already planning the construction of the 259-kilometre-long line, which will connect the country to Zambia, starting from the municipality of Luacano (Moxico) to the Zambian border region of Jimbe.
The recovery of the Zambian and DRC railways is essential to allow their interconnection to the CFB, in the Luau area, on the border with Angola, and, with that, revitalize the transport of ore to Lobito.
The two main infrastructures of the Corridor, namely the Port of Lobito and the CFB, are preparing to face the challenge ahead, through new investments, as well as the North American and European Union (EU) interest in increasing the movement of cargo in the region.
With the infrastructures of the Lobito Corridor (Port, Mining Terminal, CFB and Airport) and its agricultural, fishing and salt potential, the province of Benguela and the country, in general, will register, in the near future, a great economic growth, towards its development.
The agreement to establish the Lobito Corridor Cargo Transport Facilitation Agency will accelerate the growth of domestic and cross-border trade through the implementation of harmonized trade facilitation instruments, promoting the effective participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in value chains.
The Lobito Corridor presents an alternative strategic route to the export markets of the DRC and Zambia and offers the shortest route connecting the main mining regions of the two landlocked countries to the sea.
In Angola, the Corridor connects 40% of the country's population, and several large-scale investments in agriculture and trade are underway in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico, regions crossed by the CFB.
The signing of the legal instrument creates a framework for the three SADC member countries to jointly develop 'harmonized' laws, policies, regulations and corridor systems, including infrastructure development in a coordinated and coherent manner.
The perspective is to achieve alignment with the regional organization treaty, protocols and development frameworks, such as the Regional Strategic Indicative Development Plan 2020-2030.
Regional impact
The Lobito Corridor is of strategic importance to the region, as it will contribute to the food and energy security of Angola, the DRC and Zambia, as well as to the creation of jobs in the three countries.
It is considered that the development of the Lobito Corridor is of capital importance for all members of this large-scale project with internal and external impact.
It will boost agribusiness, the food industry, the processing of raw materials, namely minerals critical for the maintenance and growth of the automotive industry, which will circulate and cross borders to international markets.
The Lobito Corridor also presents itself as a platform for boosting provincial and national economies, allowing the creation of direct and indirect jobs.
It will also contribute decisively to the cohesion of economic growth in the interior of the country, strengthening trade between the States that are part of it, in addition to allowing logistical access for the flow and import of goods.
Port of Lobito and CFB
The Commercial Port of Lobito was created in 1902 by decree of the then president of its Council, Teixeira de Sousa, dated November 28 of that same year.
At the same time, the King of Portugal, D. Carlos I, awarded, on behalf of the Portuguese Government, to the English citizen Robert William the contract for the construction and operation of the CFB, with a duration of 99 years.
Under the terms of the concession, the CFB would connect Lobito to the Central Plateau, heading east, to reach the Portuguese-Belgian border, where there was ore production for export.
When the construction of the railway line began, on March 1, 1903, the history of the Port of Lobito also began.
The first port work built in Lobito, which provided relevant services for 30 years, was a pier that, despite the proximity to the land, allowed the simultaneous berthing of three long-distance units and two cabotage or small draft units, a work that honored the CFB, its builder.
Between 1906 and 1911, in addition to other previous studies, the engineering captain Sebastião Nunes Matos and the engineer Carlos Roma Machado prepared studies related to the port work.
The construction was imposed based on the importance of Lobito as a port for international traffic to which it would be elevated, as soon as the CFB reached the border and the combined service began, in connection with the railway lines of neighboring countries, after the union of the rails of the former to those of the Katanga Railway (DRC) line.
There were various opinions from responsible people as to the location of the port work, until, following the study of the 1920 plan, the constructions were awarded, the following year, to the English firm Pauling & Company, started immediately and completed on January 31, 1928.
There was a need for a different reorientation of the works, due to the urgency of their completion, in view of the Luso-Belgian Convention (Luso-Belgian Convention for the Establishment of Communications between Angola and Congo, current DRC, of 9 April 1918).
The rail circulation from Lobito (Km 0) to Luau (Moxico), over a length of 1,344 kilometers, was restarted in 2013, after being paralyzed for many years, due to the armed conflict, and following its rehabilitation and modernization of the CFB, launched in 2006, under the responsibility of the Chinese CR-20.
In Tenque (DRC), the CFB is connected to the railway systems of this country and Zambia. Through the connection to the latter, it is possible to reach the city of Beira, in Mozambique, and Dar-es-Salan, Tanzania, next to the Indian Ocean.
It is also indirectly linked to South Africa's railway system. In this way, the CFB is part of a transcontinental rail network.
Grupo Carrinho
Business Grupo Carrinho was founded in 1993, in the city of Lobito, Benguela province, and has 6,800 workers spread across the country. It owns an Industrial Compound composed of 17 factories, with a capacity to process 2.4 million tons of various products.
It currently has the largest storage structure in the country, with a capacity of 100,000 tons of cereals and 55,000 cubic meters of tanks. CRB/IZ/DOJ
