By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Zimbabwe is exploring the use of its vast natural resources to attract funding for its road and railway construction projects with China, finance minister Mthuli Ncube said on Wednesday.
A top lithium producer on the continent, the Southern African country has a large deposit of mineral resources but has faced a high deficit in infrastructure, following years of economic mismanagement and political turmoil
Zimbabwe needs about $34 billion to modernise its transport and logistics networks, an estimate by the African Development Bank indicates.
The finance minister said Harare has opened talks with China Railway on the resource-backed financing arrangements on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Dalian.
“We spoke to them about resource-linked debt instruments that we want to explore going forward to support our infrastructure development, especially roads and rail,” he told reporters.
Under the proposed deal, Zimbabwe would pledge future revenues from natural resources to repay loans tied to specific projects.
“It’s now up to us to decide which roads we want to develop, how much these roads will cost, how much we will raise in terms of toll fees, and how much still remains to be filled by investment in a natural resource, how much return it will generate towards extinguishing the loan,” Ncube said.
The country’s rail system, though dilapidated is critical for movement of mineral resources within its neighbouring nations.
Its resuscitation under the proposed deal will largely benefit Chinese mining firms which have gained a dominant position in the country’s extractive industry.
Zimbabwe is not the only country in Africa to trade mineral resources with infrastructure funding. The DRC has a $7 billion mineral-backed infrastructure agreement with Chinese companies as part of the Sicomines copper and cobalt joint venture.
At another occasion, the finance minister said Zimbabwe will not delay a planned ban on the export of lithium concentrate, set to take effect in January 2027, despite industry pressure for more time.
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.
Zimbabwe has been pushing miners to process more of the mineral domestically.
