Cabinet Clears Mota-Engil Africa Deal For Dilolo-Sakania Rail Modernisation

Kinshasa, August 5, 2026 - The government adopted a draft collaboration convention with Mota-Engil Africa to finance, rehabilitate, modernise, operate, maintain and eventually transfer the 1,004.5-kilometer Dilolo-Sakania railway.

Transport Vice Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba presented the project as carrying an estimated cost of USD 1.258 billion and a target capacity of up to 13.7 million tonnes per year. The rail line is a strategic logistics asset for mining exports and regional trade through the country's southern corridor.

The initiative follows a public-private partnership with Mota-Engil SA, backed by the United States International Development Finance Corporation as part of the Lobito Corridor project. It is also linked to pillars of the DRC-US economic deal signed in December 2025, including a Strategic Asset Reserve, a Strategic Minerals Reserve and development of the Sakania-Lobito corridor.

The government expects the project to support local content, technology transfer, public revenue generation, industrialisation and fiscal and administrative reform. For investors, the convention signals continued prioritisation of transport infrastructure tied to critical minerals supply chains.