Wonderful Group wants to put more than US$1.2 billion into the Livingstone to Chililabombwe railway to move cargo off its 1,000 daily trucks

Wonderful Group of Companies is seeking to invest more than US$1.2 billion in rehabilitating the railway line between Livingstone and Chililabombwe, the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet for finance and economic development has said. Siazongo Siakalenge disclosed the plan during a tour of the company's industrial park in Chilanga with senior public service staff. The aim is to move part of the group's cargo from road to rail and ease congestion. The company currently uses about 1,000 trucks a day. Mr Siakalenge said the visit should help permanent secretaries review laws that hold back industry and identify policies that support manufacturing. He also pressed for faster government decisions, pointing to the eight months Wonderful Group waited to be given industrial park status. No agreement with the Government or Zambia Railways, timeline or financing plan has been reported. ## Background The line is the old backbone of Zambia's railway, running from the Victoria Falls border through Lusaka and Kapiri Mposhi to the Copperbelt. The Government ended the last private concession on the network, held by Railway Systems of Zambia, in September 2012. The company disputed the grounds for that decision. It had committed US$40 million to rehabilitation under its 2003 agreement, a useful measure of how large the new figure is. In March, Zambia Railways Limited Managing Director Cuthbert Malindi announced a €50 million European Union grant to reduce speed restrictions between Livingstone and Kapiri Mposhi and to repair the Kapiri to Ndola section serving the mines. Other rail projects are also moving, including the US$1.4 billion Chinese revamp of TAZARA and the Lobito Corridor line through North-Western Province. Wonderful Group is already in partnership with the state. In May, it agreed a US$30 million joint venture with ZCCM Investment Holdings to revive Ndola Lime, in which the group holds 55% and ZCCM-IH holds 45%. ## Why it matters One thousand trucks a day is a he