As the Trump administration works to programatically shrink the funds and footprint for much of the U.S. soft-power influence around the globe, the Chinese company China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) is investing $1.4 billion in a Tanzania-Zambia railway.
CCECC will revive the 50-year-old railway (known by the acronym TAZARA), a key route for exports including copper and minerals from central Africa.
The signing of an MoU for the concession of TAZARA marked a significant step towards the concessioning of the railway. It is poised to catalyze the much-needed revitalization of our infrastructure and rolling stock, positioning TAZARA to achieve its full potential. pic.twitter.com/MCgawULETk
— Tazara.Info (@TAZARAHQ) September 10, 2024
According to TAZARA Authority CEO Bruno Ching’andu, $1 billion of CCECC’s investment will go towards rehabilitating the tracks, while $400 million will be spent on 32 new locomotives and 762 new wagons to boost capacity.
KITWE, ZAMBIA: The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) has announced a major 1.4 billion US Dollars investment to overhaul its infrastructure and operations, marking a new chapter for the aging rail system.
Read more: https://t.co/Prz9qbrtCo pic.twitter.com/wjualY7Ino
— Daily News Tanzania (@dailynewstz) March 20, 2025
Note: With a $550 million loan, the U.S. — through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) — has backed the rival Lobito Atlantic Railway, a mineral/mining transport corridor that links Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to Angola’s Atlantic coast. Former President Joe Biden visited the site near the end of his term in December, when the DFC opened a new bureau in Rabat, Morocco, on the Atlantic coast.
《アフリカ目撃224/africa witness》
TAZARA（タンザニアザンビア
鉄道/約2000k,1970〜75中国建設）
基本数百万本全ての枕木に〝中華人民共和国〟の刻印
○圧倒的存在感
○場所タンザニア某所 pic.twitter.com/UMUl8SVyuh— 大津司郎【アフリカ ジャーナリスト】 (@Jroad511) March 19, 2025
President Donald Trump — who wants to buy Greenland for its minerals, annex Canada for its natural resources, and get Ukraine to repay the U.S. for its billions in aid with its rare earths and mineral deposits — has yet to share his plans for the Lobito project.
In February, Trump nominated Ben Black, the son of billionaire Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black, to take over the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
In January, Ben Black wrote a blog post titled ‘How to DOGE U.S. Foreign Aid’ and promoted the idea of “Shifting much of USAID’s $44 billion budget and increasing the funding to the DFC,” so DFC can finance “American mining, shipping, and resource-dependent businesses” that “could step in” and bring “capital and expertise to Greenland.”
Note: The U.S. Secretary of State serves as the chairperson of the board of the DFC; and the Administrator of USAID serves as the vice chairperson. At this time in history, Marco Rubio serves as both. The Secretaries of Commerce (Howard Lutnick) and Treasury (Scott Bessent) also sit on the DFC board.