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levy.jpgLUSAKA, March 20 (Reuters) - Zambia and Angola have agreed plans to expand the Benguela railway network to link the two countries and to construct a road network to boost trade, state media reported on Thursday.

State-run news agency Zanis reported Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa as saying Zambia would construct a railway line from its mineral-rich Copperbelt province to the border with Angola to link up with the Benguela railway line.
“President Mwanawasa says he is determined to see the fruition of the construction of a railway line from Chingola on the Copperbelt to Lumwana (copper mine and then to) Angola before his tenure of office comes to an end in 2011,” Zanis said.
No financial details were given for the projects. Mwanawasa is in Angola for talks with that country’s leader, Eduardo Dos Santos.
Zambian officials say the first phase of the railway link to Angola will involve the construction of 245 km (153 miles) of railway between the new mining town of Solwezi and Chingola in the northwestern region.
The privately-owned Northwest Railways said in 2007 it secured $250 million in financing from investors in South Africa, Britain and the United States for the rail project.
Mwanawasa was quoted as saying the railway line would enhance trade between the two nations, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries in the region.
He said Zambia was also keen to construct a road network from its northwestern town of Kalabo to Angola to boost trade.
“Zambia has since embarked on an ambitious programme to construct rail and road infrastructure linking Zambia with Angola in a bid to promote trade between the two nations and beyond.”
The Benguela line used to run through Angola to the Zambian border, but was badly damaged during the oil-rich southern African nation’s decades-long civil war.
(Reporting by Shapi Shacinda; editing by Chris Johnson)

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