Angola’s Minister of Transport, Ricardo D'Abreu, has reaffirmed the Angolan government's intention to link the country's three national rail corridors.
These include the Northern Corridor across the provinces of Luanda, Cuanza-Norte and Malange, the Central Corridor, known as the Lobito Corridor, which runs through the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico, and the Southern Corridor, which runs from Moçâmedes, Namibe to Menongue, in Cuando Cubango.
The government was conducting a study for the project and the next step would be to decide how the project would be financed, said D’Abreu.
He said a tender for the Southern Corridor would be issued later this year. The document will set out all the obligations for the future concessionaire, in line with its investment.
D’Abreu said work on the Lobito Corridor Master Plan was currently under way. He said the government was working with a US railway team to promote its full operation to reach the provinces of Zaire, Lunda-Norte and Lunda-Sul.
“Luanda is clearly the big challenge, particularly in the area of the population centre, because there is a lot of interference on the line, but there is work to raise awareness and education, as well as discipline,” said D’Abreu.
He said national companies, specifically micro, small and medium-sized enterprises would also be included in the projects.
