Angola insists its flagship Lobito Corridor project will move forward regardless of concerns over reduced US development funding, underscoring the route’s value in linking Central Africa’s mineral belt to the Atlantic coast.

“Lobito Corridor is going ahead with or without USAID,” says Arlindo das Chagas Rangel, chairman of the Angolan Agency for Private Investment and Promotion of Exports (AIPEX). Speaking at a recent forum in Huambo province, he minimised the impact of any American funding suspension. “The corridor doesn’t depend on just one partner.”

The Lobito Corridor represents one of the most ambitious transport infrastructure initiatives in Angola since its civil war ended in 2002. It aims to revive and expand the historic Benguela Railway, connecting the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia with Angola’s Lobito Port on the Atlantic.

Geopolitical interests

A consortium led by Swiss commodity trader Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil and Belgian railway operator Vecturis secured a 30-year concession to run freight and passenger services. The project is backed by financing pledges from the European Union, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Washington’s contribution also includes a pledged $25.5m from USAID — funding now under review, according to Rangel.

“Financing for the Lobito Corridor is not at risk,” says Francisco Franca, chief executive of the Lobito Atlantic Railway consortium. He stresses that multiple investors, including European bodies, have strong commercial and geopolitical interests in linking Africa’s copper belt to global markets.

We’ve seen enough to know that Lobito is happening

Still, there were fears that the decision by the Donald Trump administration to ‘gut’ USAID could threaten the project’s momentum. Local and foreign media speculation followed a Bloomberg report suggesting a possible freeze in American funds. Yet Angolan officials at the Huambo forum repeatedly insisted that any pause in US aid would be temporary and leave the project’s broader financing intact.

Huambo province, with about two million people and several national roads, exemplifies why officials remain confident. It sits at a key juncture on the corridor, with fertile farmland supplying local and regional markets; Dutch-backed logistics hubs already export avocados from Caála to Europe. Industry executives such as Aron Zerihun, whose agribusiness has factories in Luanda, say the corridor is “vital for reaching new markets in DRC and Zambia”.

Matching China’s influence

US President Joe Biden’s earlier trip to Lobito underlined Washington’s strategic interest in matching China’s infrastructure influence across Africa. Analysts say the region’s copper, cobalt and other critical minerals remain a priority for Western governments looking to secure key raw materials.

Despite the ‘turbulence’ of American policy under Donald Trump’s presidency — coming just 50 days into his term at the time of the original suspension — Angolan officials have cultivated diverse funding relationships to offset any single-country retrenchment.

With a 30-year timeline on the concession, planning for the Lobito Corridor is a long game. The big question for many local businesses and foreign investors is whether Angola can deliver a corridor that streamlines trade across several African countries. Rangel, for one, believes the answer is already settled. “We’ve seen enough to know,” he says, “that Lobito is happening.”