Chinese firm signs deal to build new railway in Zambia

China’s state Xinhua News Agency said the China Civil Engineering Construction Company has signed a deal with Zambia’s government to build the railway that will run from Zambia’s eastern town of Chipata to the central town of Serenje via another eastern town, Petauke.

According to the China Daily, the single-track railway will carry passenger trains travelling at a top speed of 120 kilometres per hour and freight trains at 80 km/hr.

Zambia’s transport and communications minister Brian Mushimba said: “This project aims at enhancing regional trade and transport competitiveness by providing an alternative trade route to the east coast of Africa via the port of Nacala in Mozambique."

Mushimba said the railway “will provide a much-needed link between the Zambian main railway line network with the Malawian railway line network through the existing Chipata-Mchinji railway line, which forms part of the Nacala Corridor”.

The project “will enable the government to save funds used on the rehabilitation of damaged roads due to haulage of bulk and heavy cargo”, Mushimba said.

China’s ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming told Xinhua the project will further promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

“The railway line will promote Zambia's trade, investment, employment and sustainable development and open another route to the sea for the landlocked southern African nation,” Yang said. "I believe it will be an important part of the integrated southern African transportation system which connects Zambia with Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Mozambique.”

China’s president Xi Jinping said last year, ahead of a summit of Chinese and African leaders opening in South Africa, that China would “help break Africa's twin development bottlenecks of inadequate infrastructure and human resources”.

The chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, Zhang Dejiang, said during a visit to Zambia earlier this year that bilateral cooperation between the two countries “should give priority to areas such as industrial capacity, agriculture, infrastructure construction, finance and human resources development”.

According to the African Development Bank’s Rail Infrastructure in Africa report (202-page / 7.30 MB PDF), published last year, “transport accounts for 28% of the gross domestic product of Zambia and railways are now seen as an important factor and support for the railway within the government is growing”.

The report said: “Railways are the backbone of (Zambia’s) transport network and are needed to support the industries. Exports and imports depend on reliable rail transport offers and it is recognised that taxes will increase when the quality of railway services improves.”