The Africa Construction Intelligence Report
Saturday, 28 February 2026 | Vol. 1, No. 3
Lobito breaks ground. Algeria greenlights the Trans-Saharan pipeline. Africa builds the arteries of a continent remaking itself.
Africa is entering what historians may one day call the Corridor Moment. This week, construction begins on the $6 billion Lobito Corridor's greenfield rail link from Angola to Zambia -- 800 kilometres of new track through the heart of the copper belt, backed by the US, EU, and Africa Finance Corporation. Simultaneously, Algeria and Niger have greenlit the $13 billion Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, a 4,000-kilometre artery linking Nigerian gas reserves to Mediterranean export terminals. These are not incremental projects. They are continent-shaping investments that will redraw trade routes, reshape supply chains, and create construction demand measured in decades.
The connecting thread is a new African financing architecture. The AU has just launched the Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility, designed to deploy the continent's own $2.5 trillion in domestic capital. Egypt is building Africa's largest hybrid solar-battery project. Nigeria is backing its first-ever solar panel manufacturing plant. The pipeline of work is real, funded, and accelerating.
For construction executives, the message is unambiguous: the corridor economy is here, and the firms that position along these arteries will define the next decade of African infrastructure.
The 800km greenfield railway from Angola to Zambia is now under construction -- the largest Western-backed infrastructure project on the continent
Construction has officially commenced on the Lobito Corridor's most critical missing link: an 800-kilometre greenfield railway from Luacano in Angola to Chingola in Zambia. The Africa Finance Corporation, acting as lead developer, confirmed mobilisation of equipment and crews following the signing of concession agreements with both governments in September 2025 and the completion of EPC bid evaluation in November.
The Lobito Corridor will slash transport costs by 30-40% and cut export times from 35 days by truck to just one week by rail -- a transformation for the copper belt and global critical minerals supply chains.
The corridor connects the Atlantic Port of Lobito in Angola to the mineral-rich heartlands of the DRC and Zambia, creating a Western-backed alternative to Chinese-dominated export routes for copper and cobalt -- minerals essential to the global energy transition. Financing has been secured including $753 million for rail upgrades and over $1 billion in total commitments, with the AFC mobilising $500 million alongside the US International Development Finance Corporation and the EU's Global Gateway Initiative.
The project promises up to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction and operations, with first sections targeted for operation by 2028-2029. Analysts estimate it could handle 5-10 million tonnes of freight annually by 2030. For construction firms and engineering consultancies, the Lobito Corridor represents the single largest procurement opportunity in southern Africa this decade.
The strategic significance extends beyond logistics. Plans include extending the corridor to Tanzania's Dar es Salaam, creating a trans-African link from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, with add-ons including fibre optics, power lines, and renewable energy along the route.
The AIFF is designed to close the gap between political approval and financial execution for cross-border megaprojects
African Heads of State formally launched the Africa Infrastructure Financing Facility (AIFF) on 14 February during the 39th African Union Summit -- a coordinated, continent-wide platform to accelerate the preparation and financing of priority cross-border infrastructure projects aligned with Agenda 2063.
Africa has domestic capital pools exceeding $2.5 trillion. The challenge is not the availability of capital, but how intentionally we deploy it into infrastructure, industrialization, and job creation.
-- H.E. John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana and AU Champion on Financial Institutions
Created jointly by AUDA-NEPAD and the Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI), which collectively holds over $70 billion in balance sheets, the AIFF addresses a persistent bottleneck: projects that stall not because they lack political support, but because they are insufficiently prepared or misaligned with investor requirements. The AU Commission estimates Africa's annual infrastructure financing gap at approximately $221 billion through 2030.
Separately, the African Development Bank is developing a New African Financial Architecture -- a risk-assessment framework that Bloomberg reports could unlock up to $4 trillion for African projects by moving fragmented financial systems toward a coordinated continental architecture. For construction executives, both initiatives signal that the era of project-by-project financing is giving way to platform-scale capital deployment.
Egypt has launched the 1.1 GW Obelisk solar and battery storage project -- Africa's largest hybrid renewable facility. The mega-project integrates utility-scale solar with battery storage, enhancing grid reliability and reinforcing Egypt's position as the continent's clean energy leader. With approximately 5.5 GW of solar projects already underway and 13 GW in pre-construction, Egypt leads North Africa in renewable deployment. Scatec has simultaneously reaffirmed expanded investment plans in the country, signalling continued international investor confidence.
InfraCredit is set to announce a credit guarantee for Africa's first solar panel manufacturing plant in March 2026 -- a continental first. The AAA-rated guarantee, combining concessional capital from the Bank of Industry, will unlock domestic pension fund and insurance investment into renewable manufacturing. Nigeria imported 1,721 MW of Chinese panels in twelve months; two assembly plants are already operational with two more under construction. The country signed $435 million in renewable manufacturing agreements in October 2025, targeting 4 GW of domestic solar manufacturing capacity.
Ethiopia and Djibouti have agreed to connect strategic ports directly to the Ethio-Djibouti Railway by November 2026 -- eliminating a $10 million annual trucking bottleneck. The deal covers rail links to the Doraleh Multipurpose Port, the HDTL oil terminal, and a new 17km spur to the Damerjog Liquid Bulk Port, which will have 25 million tonnes annual capacity. EDR has signalled interest in a 49% stake in the Damerjog fuel storage project, plus a future 40km dual-track line connecting Bole International Airport to Bishoftu.
Africa's solar sector has entered a new phase of accelerated expansion. According to the Global Solar Council, installations surged 54% in 2025, with eight countries installing more than 100 MW each -- double the number in 2024. South Africa leads with over 10 GW installed, followed by Nigeria (803 MW record year) and Egypt. Reuters reports Africa could install more than 33 GW of solar capacity by 2029.
The growth is broad-based. Distributed solar now accounts for 44% of new capacity, though the Africa Solar Industry Association says actual deployment may be significantly higher -- Chinese export data suggests Africa's true installed solar capacity could be 2.75 times greater than commonly reported, reaching 63.9 GW. African nations imported a record $2 billion in Chinese solar modules in 2025, up 36%, plus $2.6 billion in battery systems.
Policy momentum is accelerating: Nigeria has authorised net-metering regulations, Kenya mandates solar provisions in building codes, and Eskom has achieved 280 consecutive days without loadshedding. An 840 MW tracker supply deal between FTC Solar and Lubanzi Inala signals the scale of South Africa's renewable pipeline. For construction firms, the solar buildout represents one of the continent's most reliable and rapidly scaling project streams.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has announced that construction on the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) will begin after Ramadan, marking the most significant milestone for a project first proposed two decades ago. The pipeline will link Nigeria's vast gas reserves through Niger to Algeria's existing Mediterranean export infrastructure, with annual transport capacity of approximately 30 billion cubic metres.
U.S. analyst Geoff D. Porter of North Africa Risk Consulting has dismissed security concerns about the Sahel route, noting the pipeline will be buried underground with only compression stations visible. "It is technically feasible and does not present exceptional engineering challenges," he said. The project builds on a 2009 intergovernmental agreement between NNPC, Sonatrach, and Niger's SONIDEP, revived in 2022 with updated feasibility studies completed in 2025.
For the construction sector, the TSGP represents one of Africa's largest single infrastructure contracts -- estimated at $13 billion -- spanning three jurisdictions and requiring massive civil engineering, welding, and logistics capacity across some of the most challenging terrain on the continent. The project would also position West Africa as a major gas supplier to European markets seeking diversification from Russian supplies.
The GROW Project -- Construction Waste Remediation and Recycling Vocational Training in Sub-Saharan Africa -- has officially launched, targeting the creation of green jobs in construction waste reduction, recycling, and sustainable building practices. The initiative represents a growing recognition that Africa's construction boom must be accompanied by a parallel investment in circular economy skills and waste management infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) will host the second BOAD Development Days in Lome on 11-12 June 2026, themed "Inclusive Housing and Energy Sovereignty." The event will convene policymakers, investors, and technical partners to discuss innovative financing mechanisms for sustainable housing across the WAEMU region, including green finance instruments, fintech solutions, and public-private partnerships. Cameroon's social housing programme, which has delivered 3,585 units against a deficit of 2.5 million, illustrates both the scale of demand and the execution challenges -- compounded by a new 10% VAT on social housing operations introduced in January 2026.
For construction executives, the convergence of green skills training, sustainable housing finance, and regulatory pressure on construction waste signals a structural shift: ESG is no longer a reporting exercise in African construction but a capital strategy that directly impacts project financing and margins.
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