A New $850 Million Route to Speed Up Congo’s Copper Exports
- Company plans new highway cutting through Zambia to Tanzania
- Project could ease burden on strained existing infrastructure
Trucks carrying copper and cobalt on the toll road between Lubumbashi and Kasumbalesa in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Photographer: Lucien Kahozi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
An $850 million road project connecting copper and cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo through Zambia to an East African port will cut more than 150 miles from the existing journey, according to the company building it.
Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi and Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema broke ground on Monday at the site where a key part of the route — a 345 meter (1,130 feet) bridge over the Luapula river that separates their countries — will be erected.