Manganese ore is essential to making steel—just as essential as iron. And since the steel that comprises most construction materials is critical to the growth of cities and industries around the world, any country that produces manganese ore has a ready-made export market.
Gabon is one of those countries: it is the world’s fourth-largest producer of manganese ore and has substantial untapped iron ore resources. This gives it a key role in the global steel manufacturing value chain. But moving manganese from the interior of the country to the port, where it can be shipped abroad, has been a problem for decades. Gabon’s Transgabonais railway, responsible for transporting manganese, lacked the capacity to operate as needed. That has hindered national growth.
Now, an eight-year-long, €315 million ($362 million) investment program and recovery plan supported by IFC is helping restore the transport capacity of the Transgabonais railway. The project will lower the railway’s direct operating cost while fostering national economic growth through improved, shared infrastructure. The financing was awarded to Société d’Exploitation du Transgabonais (SETRAG), the concessionaire that has run the 650-kilometer Transgabonais rail line since 2005.
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