Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Zimbabwe is considering using its vast natural resources to fund road and railway construction projects with China.
The southern African nation, Africa’s top lithium producer, has significant mineral resources. But years of economic mismanagement and political turmoil have left its infrastructure severely underdeveloped. The African Development Bank estimates Zimbabwe needs about $34 billion to modernise its transport and logistics networks.
Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on June 24 that Harare had begun discussions with China Railway on resource-backed financing arrangements on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Dalian.
Under such arrangements, Zimbabwe would pledge future revenues from natural resources to repay loans tied to specific projects.
Zimbabwe’s dilapidated rail system is critical for moving minerals and its revival is in the interests of Chinese mining firms which have gained a dominant position in the country’s extractive sector.
The approach echoes a mineral-linked $7 billion infrastructurem agreement the Democratic Republic of Congo has with Chinese companies as part of the Sicomines copper and cobalt joint venture.
Chinese firms have invested over $2 billion in Zimbabwe’s lithium sector since 2021, strengthening Beijing’s influence over a critical supply chain for electric vehicle batteries.
