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China-Africa relations
ChinaDiplomacy

China plans to spend US$1 billion to revamp Tanzania-Zambia railway in race to control critical mineral trade routes

  • The Tazara rail line, first built in the 1970s with Chinese funding, will be updated through public-private partnership
  • The project connecting Zambian copper belt with Dar es Salaam will compete with US- and EU-backed link between resource-rich areas and Angola port

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The Tazara railway was originally funded by the Chinese government under Mao Zedong as a foreign aid project. Photo: SCMP / Handout
Jevans Nyabiage
As global powers vie for control over critical mineral trade routes, China plans to spend US$1 billion to refurbish a key railway line connecting Zambia’s copper belt region with the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam under its Belt and Road Initiative.
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On Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Zambia Du Xiaohui handed over a proposal to rehabilitate the Tazara railway to Zambian Transport Minister Frank Tayali, saying the US$1 billion investment would be done through a public-private partnership (PPP) over the coming years.

Du said China would work with its “Zambian brothers and Tanzanian sisters” to strengthen cooperation and benefit the three countries.

“The Chinese side wants to use the PPP model to invest over US$1 billion in the coming years,” Du said.

A team assembled in December has completed a business and technical inspection of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, the Tazara’s operator, and issued a report on Wednesday.

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