Zambia’s road connection into the Lobito Corridor has moved another step forward, with the African Development Bank publishing procurement notices for construction supervision of the Mwinilunga-Jimbe Road in North-Western Province.
The expressions of interest were published on 15 September 2026 under the Lobito Integrated Economic Corridor Development Project.
The road has been divided into two supervision packages.
Lot 1 covers approximately 52 kilometres from Mwinilunga to the Zambezi Source Access Road.
Lot 2 covers approximately 63 kilometres from the Zambezi Source Access Road to Jimbe Border Post, including the Nyamwana Spur Road.
The works form part of Zambia’s wider participation in the Lobito Corridor, which is intended to improve connectivity between Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo and strengthen access to the Atlantic through the Port of Lobito.
In August, the African Development Bank approved a US$255 million loan and US$10 million grant to support Zambia’s participation in the corridor initiative. The wider programme includes the upgrading of the Mwinilunga-Jimbe road, planned railway infrastructure and trade-facilitation investments.
Why it matters
The Lobito Corridor discussion is increasingly moving from high-level agreements into individual infrastructure projects.
For Zambia, the Mwinilunga-Jimbe road is particularly important because it strengthens the physical connection between North-Western Province and the Angolan border at Jimbe, creating another potential route for trade, agriculture and movement into the wider Lobito system.
AfDB’s project appraisal also positions road and rail as complementary parts of the corridor, with rail intended to handle bulk freight while roads provide regional and last-mile connectivity. The Bank estimates that improvements could reduce travel time between Mwinilunga and Jimbe from around four hours to about 1.2 hours.
For Logistics Now, this is the corridor conversation worth tracking: Lobito will only become a meaningful alternative for Zambia when the individual road, rail, border and trade-facilitation links that connect the country to the corridor are actually built and operational.
