Between the 1870s and 1910s, European powers scrambled to get a hold of as much of Africa as possible, competing with one another for influence and resources. The colonial era has long been over, but when it comes to rail infrastructure (and resources), a new Scramble for Africa is beginning to take shape.
In late September, China, Zambia and Tanzania signed a 1,4 billion US dollar agreement to rehabilitate the so-called TAZARA railway. The line runs from Zambia’s copper mines in Kapiri Mposhi to Dar-Es-Salaam, a major port city in Tanzania and was originally built with Chinese investments in the 1970s.
China’s state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has won the concession to manage TAZARA for the coming 30 years. One billion of the total investment will go to renovation works for the 1,860-kilometre railway, the remaining 400 million dollars is reserved for the purchase of 32 locomotives and 762 new wagons. In total, the project is expected to take two years.
For Beijing, the benefits are manifold: it gets to assert control over a key artery for critical raw material supply chains, commercial benefits and leverage over the hosting countries. What’s more, it counteracts Western investments in the so-called Lobito Corridor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola, which too leads to Kapiri Mposhi.
The US has pledged at least 803 million US dollars to support that 1,700-kilometre railway, which also connects copper (and cobalt) mines to sea ports. According to the Africa Policy Research Institute, Western financing in total could be as high as 6 billion US dollars. The Lobito Corridor is also a counteracting measure: Western countries seek to undermine China’s already entrenched position in African mining.
Railways to resources
There is a new competition for influence and resources, which means that the battle for African railways is on. The late 19th and early 20th centuries echo in modern geopolitics, especially since foreign powers are after Africa’s precious minerals. China has been leading the way in recent years, with rail projects such as the Simandou railway in Guinea. That 600-kilometre railway is supposed to enable maritime exports of iron ore. Other Chinese rail projects have taken place in Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia.
It seems that Europe and the US will be playing a game of catch-up, even if China is upping the stakes. In July, China finished a part of the Algerian Western Railway, having built 135 kilometres of the line to the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine. An agreement for 6,000 kilometres of rail was signed in 2024.
Western countries are responding with not only investments in the Lobito Corridor, but also in the Ressano Garcia Line in Mozambique. A 145 million euro combined investment by France and the EU should help build double tracks and boost capacity threefold, to 44,6 million tonnes per year. Unsurprisingly, this line too connects mine (in South Africa) to a port (Maputo).
A broader effort to counter BRI
These rail investments fall into a broader strategy to counteract China and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) programme. For example, the US and EU have responded to China’s African advancements by establishing the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, of which the Lobito Corridor is the flagship project. African membership of the programme includes Zambia, DRC and Angola.
The EU has its Global Gateway strategy, which seeks to create “strategic, sustainable, and secure transport corridors” and “support value chains, services and jobs”. The EU’s corridor wishlist is long and includes many inland-to-coast routes.
The flipside of the coin
Africa is hoping for lucrative business opportunities, but critics have argued that the investments will lead to resource exploitation akin to that of the colonial era. There may be opportunities, but not all is rainbows and sunshine for African nations as they become a geopolitical battleground.
To illustrate, Kenya has encountered problems with the burden of the infrastructure debt it owes to China. The country failed to repay debts, incurred a penalty fine of a couple of million dollars, and ended up converting the loans from dollars into yuan on 7 October to save on interest payments. It should help save the country 215 million euros a year.
That same railway faced criticism because there was “no real plan for operating the railway” after construction. Mistakes were allegedly made in the acquisition of rolling stock and setting tariffs. The Chinese construction company rushed arrangements for operations on the line, and Kenya missed opportunities “develop national know-how and capability”.
