Mota-Engil secures $62.6 million in guarantees for Angola's Lobito railway

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), part of the World Bank Group, has issued $62.6 million in guarantees to the Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil. These guarantees are intended to cover equity investments in the Lobito Atlantic Railway under a 30-year concession from the Angolan government.

The guarantees address specific political and non-commercial risks, including breach of contract, expropriation, and civil disturbance or war. The project involves the operation, maintenance, and modernization of approximately 1,300 kilometers of rail infrastructure, connecting the Port of Lobito on the Atlantic coast to Luau near the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Lobito Corridor serves as a competitive route for transporting copper and cobalt from the DR Congo’s Copperbelt to international markets, minerals that are vital for the global energy transition and electric vehicle batteries. The project is expected to employ over 1,600 workers at peak operations, with the vast majority being Angolan nationals.