The African Development Bank, the intended project financier, said it will consider funding a railway line between Zambia and the Port of Lobito in Angola.
According to the planned project, the railway line will facilitate regional and international trade, especially for bulk cargo such as copper whose production is projected to rise to more than a million tonnes by 2015.
It is not clear how much the project will cost.
According to a statement from Lusaka’s Embassy in Washington DC, AfDB president Donald Kaberuka told Zambia’s Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane during the World Bank spring meeting that: ‘The project is important for regional integration aimed at improving infrastructure development.’
Angola’s government is rehabilitating the Benguela railway line.
Musokotwane said Zambia was interested in the construction of the railway line to link it to the Benguela network that leads to the Port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.
This will make it easier for Zambia to export goods to Europe and America by sea.
‘We would like to request the AfDB to support financing of the Itezi-Tezhi Hydro Power and the Mpulungu Habour which is aimed improving infrastructure development,’ he added.
Itezi-Tezhi Hydro Power plant is estimated to cost about US$200 million and contribute some 150 megawatts to the national power grid.
Another project likely to receive the bank’s support, along with Japense government backing, include the construction of the Kazungula Bridge, a joint venture between Zambia and Botswana. The Kazungula Bridge is part of the North-South Corridor linking Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Botswana with the port of Durban in South Africa.