EIB Global, AfDB allocate $275m for Mauritania railway upgrade

The European Investment Bank (EIB Global) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) person announced a associated financing statement totalling $275m for the upgrade of Mauritania’s main railway corridor.

The agreement, signed astatine the Africa Investment Forum 2025, volition enactment infrastructure improvements connected the way betwixt Zouerate, an robust ore mining area, and Nouadhibou, a larboard metropolis connected the Atlantic coast.

The fiscal bundle includes a $150m indebtedness from the AfDB and $125m from EIB Global, with the second guaranteed by the European Union (EU).

Both institutions are providing this enactment arsenic backstage sector, non-sovereign loans straight to Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM), which operates the railway and is Mauritania’s largest employer.

EIB vice-president Ambroise Fayolle said: “This task volition reenforce SNIM’s transport corridor, boost exports, and enactment the country’s economical development.

“Just a fewer days aft the palmy AU-EU Summit successful Luanda, it is simply a beardown illustration of however the European Union and the EIB, moving with African partners, present connected the Global Gateway strategy.”

SNIM volition oversee implementation of the task arsenic portion of efforts to grow accumulation and exports portion supporting biology and societal objectives wrong Mauritania’s mining and logistics industries.

SNIM committee subordinate and CEO Mohamed Vall Mohamed Telmidy said: “The inaugural to amended our logistics concatenation represents an important pillar of our strategical programme.

“Its improvement contributes to the realisation of our accumulation objectives. We are peculiarly grateful to our partners EIB Global and AfDB for their unwavering support.”

Project plans screen the rehabilitation of existing obstruction infrastructure, operation of 42km of caller way to service processing mining locations astatine El Aouj and Atomai, and procurement of locomotives, wagons, and attraction equipment.

The inaugural aims to amended capacity, trim substance usage, and heighten operational information and reliability on a enactment captious to Mauritania’s export sector.

According to stakeholders, upgrading the railway is expected to facilitate accrued mineral exports, foster occupation creation, amended determination connections, and code transport resilience successful the look of clime risk.

AfDB president Sidi Ould Tah said: “This financing marks an important milestone for Mauritania and for the African Development Bank.

“By supporting SNIM done a corporate, non-sovereign loan, we are demonstrating our determination to standard up backstage assemblage concern successful strategical worth chains.”