The Minister of Transport, Ricardo D’Abreu, last week in Benguela Province reaffirmed the Angolan government’ s intention to link the country ‘s three railway corridors.
These are the Northern Corridor, which covers the provinces of Luanda, Cuanza-Norte and Malange, the Central Corridor, known as the Lobito Corridor, which crosses the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico, and the Southern Corridor, which runs from Moçâmedes, Namibe to Menongue, in Cuando Cubango.
According to the minister, a study is being conducted, while the next step is to decide on how the project will be financed.
The minister announced that a tender for the Southern Corridor will be launched this year, where a set of obligations will be defined for the future concessionaire, in line with their investment.
As for the involvement of national companies, specifically micro, small and medium-sized ones, the minister assured that this has already started to happen.
According to Ricardo D’Abreu, the benefits have already begun to happen, but work is underway related to the Lobito Corridor Master Plan.
‘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 the minister adding that in this corridor, the government is working with an American railway team to promote its full operation in due course, which will reach the provinces of Zaire, Lunda-Norte and Lunda-Sul.