意大利韦伯集团（Webuild SpA）和巴西奥德布雷希特工程建设公司（Odebrecht Engenharia & Construção SA）是中标该项目的主要成员，该项目将修建连接中非铜钴矿区与安哥拉大西洋沿岸港口的卢比托走廊铁路（Lobito Corridor）一段长达830公里（516英里）的路段。
Webuild SpA and Brazil’s Odebrecht Engenharia & Construção SA are key members of groups that have been selected as preferred bidders to build an 830-kilometer (516-mile) section of the Lobito Corridor rail connecting central Africa’s copper and cobalt fields with a port on Angola’s Atlantic coast.
非洲金融公司（Africa Finance Corp.）是该项目所谓的赞比亚段的主要开发商，它选择了这些集团，预计这些集团将在下个月启动谈判后的八到十二周内最终确定合同。韦伯集团、葡萄牙莫塔-恩吉尔公司（Mota-Engil SGPS SA）和土耳其IC Ictas公司正在就从赞比亚的钦戈拉（Chingola）到安哥拉边境的路段进行谈判。莫塔-恩吉尔公司和诺沃诺公司（Novonor SA）旗下的奥德布雷希特公司正在就从边境到安哥拉的卢阿卡诺（Luacano）的路段进行谈判。
Africa Finance Corp., the lead developer of the so-called Zambia section of the project, chose the groups, which are expected to finalize contracts within eight to 12 weeks after the start of talks next month. Webuild, Mota-Engil SGPS SA and Turkey’s IC Ictas are negotiating to build the section from Chingola in Zambia to its border with An gola. Mota-Engil and Odebrecht, a unit of Novonor SA, are in talks about the section from the border to Luacano in Angola.
该项目全长约1739公里，将从刚果民主共和国的科尔韦齐（Kolwezi）延伸至安哥拉的卢比托港（Lobito port），该项目得到了美国的财政支持，因为它将大大缩短运往西方市场的关键矿产的运输时间。该项目被视为美国旨在遏制中国对非洲能源转型关键矿产产量控制的重要举措之一。
The overall project, which will run about 1,739 kilometers from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s city of Kolwezi to Angola’s Lobito port, has been financially backed by the US as it will significantly reduce transport times for critical minerals being exported to Western markets. It’s seen as a key plank of the US’s drive to counter China’s control of much of Africa’s production of minerals seen as critical to the energy transition.
非洲金融公司总裁兼首席执行官萨马伊拉·祖拜鲁（Samaila Zubairu）在接受采访时表示：“这是交付过程中的一个重要步骤。”他补充说：“我们将在六到八个月内开始建设，”但他拒绝透露合同的成本。
“This is a significant step toward delivery,” Samaila Zubairu, president and chief executive officer of the AFC, said in an interview. “It’s not going to be longer than six to eight months for us to start construction,” he said, declining to say how much the cost of the contracts would be.
非洲金融公司在一份声明中表示，这条新建的铁路线预计还将刺激沿线的经济活动，包括矿产的增值以及促进农产品的生产。
The greenfield rail line is also expected to spur economic activity along its length, including value addition to the minerals and to foster the production of agricultural products, the AFC said in a statement.
“我们要做的是建设基础设施，以支持非洲生产的增长，”祖拜鲁说。“我们希望非洲资源与非洲生产者、非洲消费者以及全球消费者相匹配或相连接。”刚果（金）和赞比亚是非洲最大的铜生产国，刚果（金）也是世界上最大的电池材料钴供应国。莫塔-恩吉尔也是将建设铁路其余路段的集团成员之一。
“What we want to do is build infrastructure that will support the growth of African production,” Zubairu said. “We want African resources matched or tied to African producers, to African consumers and to global consumers as well.”Congo and Zambia are Africa’s biggest copper producers and Congo is also the world’s biggest supplier of battery material cobalt. Mota-Engil is also part of groups that will build the rest of the rail line.