Zambia awards China Railway $825m deal for line upgrades
Zambia signed an $825-million contract with a China Railway Construction Corporation unit to upgrade tracks in the south of the country, the company said.
The project will last eight years and will cover nearly 650 km of lines, China Railway said a statement, without saying how it will be financed. If the government is planning on funding the rehabilitation project through borrowing, it could raise questions about the credibility of measures Zambia announced last month to cut foreign debt.
Zambia’s economy is straining under soaring liabilities, and S&P Global Ratings last month cut the nation’s credit rating to CCC, eight levels below investment grade. That’s the lowest level for any African country it assesses. Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu said last month the cabinet agreed to a moratorium on contracting external project loans. The government also planned to cancel or re-scope contracts to reduce its pipeline foreign debt by about $5-billion, he said.
Zambia’s finance and transport ministries didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation