IN Brief:
- The proposed project covers 1,004.5km of railway through southeastern DRC.
- Planned work includes financing, rehabilitation, operation, maintenance, and eventual transfer to the state.
- The US$1.258 billion programme remains dependent on final contracts, financing approvals, technical scope, and delivery arrangements.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has approved a draft collaboration convention with Mota-Engil Africa covering a proposed US$1.258 billion modernisation of the Dilolo–Sakania railway.
The 1,004.5km route crosses southeastern DRC through the mining regions of Lualaba and Haut-Katanga. It connects with the Lobito Corridor towards Angola’s Atlantic coast and forms an important route for copper, cobalt, fuel, equipment, and other freight.
The draft convention covers financing, rehabilitation of existing infrastructure, modernisation, commercial operation, maintenance, and transfer of the assets to the state at the end of the concession period.
The government expects the project to increase railway capacity progressively to approximately 13.7 million tonnes a year. That figure is a proposed system target rather than currently available freight capacity.
Cabinet approval advances the institutional framework, but it does not mean that US$1.258 billion has been deployed or that a final financing package and concession agreement are complete. The project remains subject to contractual, technical, financial, and operating arrangements.
The US International Development Finance Corporation issued a letter of interest to Mota-Engil in December 2025 supporting rehabilitation, operation, and transfer of the line. DFC said the project may seek up to US$1 billion in financing following full review.
A letter of interest is not a completed loan. Due diligence still needs to address traffic forecasts, project costs, environmental and social requirements, political risk, concession rights, and the allocation of construction and operating responsibilities.
The Congolese project is linked to, but financially separate from, the Angolan section of the Lobito Atlantic Railway. Africa Finance Corporation announced financial close in July on a US$753 million package for the 1,300km Angolan corridor between the Port of Lobito and the DRC border.
That financing comprises US$553 million from DFC and US$200 million from the Development Bank of Southern Africa. It supports rehabilitation, upgrading, and long-term operation of the Angolan concession.
Connecting the Congolese and Angolan programmes is central to the corridor’s commercial logic. An improved railway inside DRC has limited export value if border interchange, train paths, and port handling cannot absorb the traffic.
The reverse is equally true. An upgraded Angolan route cannot reach its intended potential without reliable freight moving from mining and industrial regions in DRC.
The proposed 13.7 million-tonne capacity therefore depends on more than track rehabilitation. Locomotives, wagons, signalling, passing loops, workshops, loading terminals, customs systems, train planning, and operating rules will determine how much freight the route carries and how consistently it performs.
Mining supply chains place particular pressure on rail assets because volumes are heavy, regular, and commercially sensitive to disruption. Producers require dependable access to wagons and port slots, while project developers need confidence that additional output will not encounter a transport bottleneck hundreds of kilometres from the mine.
Road haulage can provide flexibility, but it is poorly suited to replacing rail at the scale proposed. Moving several million tonnes by truck would increase vehicle movements, road wear, border queues, fuel demand, and exposure to disruption.
Rail offers a stronger proposition for bulk freight when infrastructure, locomotives, and operating systems deliver reliable cycle times. Poorly maintained track or unpredictable border processes can quickly remove that advantage.
The project could also support inbound movements of fuel, machinery, construction materials, agricultural inputs, and consumer goods. The eventual balance between mineral exports, passengers, and other freight has not yet been defined publicly.
Execution risk remains substantial across a route exceeding 1,000km. Work may involve track, drainage, bridges, signalling, telecommunications, workshops, stations, and loading facilities, with construction organised around existing operations.
Procurement packages will need to reflect the condition of the current railway rather than assumptions based on route length alone. Security, land access, local supply capability, and availability of skilled railway personnel may also affect cost and timing.
Mota-Engil’s involvement on both sides of the border may support engineering and operating alignment. Common participation does not remove the need for clear interfaces between national authorities, railway operators, customs agencies, financiers, mining companies, and the Port of Lobito.
Cross-border corridors tend to lose time at institutional and operational boundaries. Compatible infrastructure matters, but so do documentation, train acceptance, tariff structures, border inspections, and the authority to resolve exceptions.
The DRC approval gives the Dilolo–Sakania programme a defined value, proposed delivery structure, and private-sector partner. Its next credible milestones will be final agreements, committed financing, verified technical scope, and a construction programme.
Until those steps are completed, the corridor has moved forward, but it remains a major railway project to finance and execute — not 13.7 million tonnes of available capacity.
