Chinese, Portuguese, British, Congolese, German, Japanese and South African companies have expressed interest in the concession to run the Benguela Railway in Angola, Angop reports, citing an Angolan official with responsibility for land transport.

The Angolan state-run news agency quotes the official, Jorge Benge, as saying so in an online seminar last Thursday about the potential of the railway for carrying copper and cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo to ports in Angola for shipping overseas.

In October 2019 the Chinese government-run news agency, Xinhua, reported that state-owned China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corp. had turned over the Benguela Railway to the Angolan government after rehabilitating the railway at a cost of US$1.83 billion.

The line runs eastwards for 1,344 km from the Angolan coastal city of Lobito, through Benguela, Huambo, Kuito and Luena, to Luau on the Congolese border, according to Xinhua.