Hichilema pledges $1.6 billion TAZARA recapitalisation

KAPIRI MPOSHI — President Hakainde Hichilema says TAZARA's recapitalisation represents a US$1.6 billion commitment that will be actualised once he wins re-election.

The pledge, made at a rally at TAZARA Station on Monday, ties one of Zambia's oldest state-run infrastructure assets to the outcome of the 13 August election, after decades in which underinvestment left the railway running far below capacity.

Hichilema told thousands of residents gathered at the station that the United Party for National Development (UPND) government had already made progress toward recapitalising TAZARA to improve its efficiency and operating capacity, according to a report by the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS), the government's official wire service. The recapitalisation, Hichilema said, would proceed once he is re-elected, and TAZARA employees would be re-employed under the recapitalised company.

Only those who want to be retired will go, otherwise everyone will be brought back on board.

— President Hakainde Hichilema, TAZARA Station, Kapiri Mposhi, 6 July 2026

Hichilema also disclosed that government has allocated US$65 million toward establishing a Dry Port in Kapiri Mposhi. The plan, he said, is to transform the district into an economic hub through the dry port and new railway workshops, a move expected to create jobs for young people in the area.

We shall also address the long-standing challenges of access to water in Kapiri Mposhi.

— President Hakainde Hichilema, Kapiri Mposhi, 6 July 2026

On roads, Hichilema said township roads in Kapiri Mposhi have been earmarked for upgrading to bituminous standard under the rehabilitation of the 327-kilometre Ndola-Lusaka Road into a dual carriageway. He pointed to further achievements from his first term — infrastructure funded through the enhanced Constituency Development Fund (CDF), the enactment of free education into law, and a mass recruitment drive across the public service — as reasons for Kapiri Mposhi to sustain UPND in office.

Hichilema appealed to residents to re-elect him and to back UPND parliamentary candidates in the Kapiri East and Kapiri West constituencies, as well as UPND local government candidates. The TAZARA pledge extends a wider infrastructure push: the Treasury says Zambia has signed 19 public-private partnership projects worth US$9.1 billion since 2022, several of them in transport and rail. Mulungushi University Students Union President David Banda, who also addressed the rally, pledged his support for Hichilema's candidature in the 13 August election.

Background

TAZARA links Zambia's Copperbelt to the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Built in the 1970s with Chinese government financing, the railway gave landlocked Zambia's copper exports an alternative route that bypassed apartheid-era Rhodesia and South Africa. It has operated under joint Tanzanian and Zambian ownership since, but decades of underinvestment left it running well below capacity, ceding freight volumes to road transport. Previous recapitalisation plans have been announced without full implementation, a history that gives Monday's pledge added weight — and invites scrutiny over delivery.

Because Tanzania co-owns the railway under the original 1975 treaty, any recapitalisation ultimately needs buy-in from Dar es Salaam as well as Lusaka, a dimension Hichilema's Monday remarks did not address. The revival pitch also lands as Zambia's copper exporters weigh the reopened Lobito Corridor through Angola as an alternative route to the coast, adding competitive pressure on the older Dar es Salaam line.

Monday's rally extends a string of election pledges Hichilema has carried since he launched his re-election bid for the 13 August vote. It echoes a campaign-trail pitch Hichilema made days earlier in Zambezi District, where he pointed to debt restructuring, a return to growth and a steadier kwacha as reasons for voters to keep UPND in office. The Kapiri Mposhi visit is part of Kwacha News's politics coverage of the 13 August election.

What to watch

Delivery timelines are the next test. Hichilema did not give a start date for the TAZARA recapitalisation or the Kapiri Mposhi dry port, and neither UPND nor the Ministry of Finance and National Planning has published a financing breakdown for the US$1.6 billion figure. The 13 August election will decide whether the pledge is tested at all — opposition candidates are expected to press Hichilema on delivery timelines for the CDF-funded projects and the free-education rollout he cited on Monday, and on how a second term would fund TAZARA and the dry port alongside the Ndola-Lusaka Road upgrade already under way.

Hichilema faces 13 other contenders in that vote, including Socialist Party leader Fred M'membe, under the rules and timetable Kwacha News has set out in its guide to the 13 August race.

Sources

Zambia News and Information Services: "TAZARA recapitalization to be actualized – President Hichilema," 6 July 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions readers have been asking since Hichilema's Kapiri Mposhi pledge. Short answers follow, drawn from the ZANIS report and Kwacha News's wider election coverage.

What is the TAZARA recapitalisation pledge?

In short, Hichilema pledged during a campaign stop at TAZARA Station that the recapitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority will be actualised at a cost of US$1.6 billion once he is re-elected on 13 August. Simply put, the commitment is conditional on the election outcome, not a funded, in-progress project. The key is that no financing breakdown or start date has been published.

How would the recapitalisation affect TAZARA workers?

According to Hichilema, TAZARA employees would be re-employed under the recapitalised company, with only those wanting to retire leaving the payroll. Data from the Kapiri Mposhi address shows the assurance was paired with a separate US$65 million pledge for a Dry Port in the same district, which the government says would create jobs alongside the railway's revival.

Why is Kapiri Mposhi central to this pledge?

Kapiri Mposhi hosts TAZARA Station and sits on the Ndola-Lusaka corridor, making it a natural staging point for both the railway and the planned dry port. According to Hichilema, the district would also gain water infrastructure and bituminous township roads under the 327-kilometre Ndola-Lusaka Road rehabilitation. In other words, the location ties several campaign pledges — rail, water, roads and jobs — into a single visit.

Who else featured in the Kapiri Mposhi campaign stop?

Mulungushi University Students Union President David Banda addressed the same rally and pledged his support for Hichilema's candidature. The answer is that the event combined a presidential policy pledge with a youth-endorsement moment, both reported by ZANIS from the scene on Monday.

What are the real risks to the TAZARA pledge?

Analysis of Zambia's past TAZARA recapitalisation announcements reveals a pattern of pledges that outpaced delivery, largely for lack of committed financing. Evidence from Monday's speech shows the same gap persists: the US$1.6 billion figure was stated without a funding source, a timeline or a defined role for Tanzania, TAZARA's joint owner. Each risk concerns financing and delivery, not the railway's need for investment, which independent assessments have long treated as established.