India Exim Bank Offers $6 Billion to Link CAR Mines to Cameroon’s Kribi Port

A&S Resources says it has secured $6 billion, or about CFA3.39 trillion at the Sept. 4, 2026 exchange rate, to build a roughly 1,350-kilometer railway linking its mining assets in the Central African Republic (CAR) to Cameroon’s Kribi port. However, key details needed to assess the project’s implications for Cameroon remain undisclosed.

The amount covers the entire project. A&S has not specified either the cost or length of the section that would cross Cameroon.

In its Sept. 4 statement, the company provides no route for the railway on Cameroonian territory. The number of kilometers involved, land requirements, structures to be built and the exact terminal point within the Kribi port area remain unknown. It is therefore impossible to determine how much of the CFA3.39 trillion would actually be invested in Cameroon.

A&S identifies the Export-Import Bank of India, also known as India Exim Bank, as the financier. However, the company does not identify the legal borrower or disclose the interest rate, loan maturity, disbursement schedule or required guarantees.

The available announcement comes solely from A&S Resources. No loan agreement, commitment letter or public statement from the lender accompanied it. The exact status of the financing therefore cannot be independently established. It is also unclear whether Cameroon or CAR would have to guarantee part of the financing, co-finance infrastructure or facilitate access to land.

Port Infrastructure Still to Be Defined

The proposed railway would be double-track and designed for heavy freight. A&S says it would initially carry 250,000 tons of cargo per day, with capacity eventually rising to 300,000 tons.

The company says it is working with China Railway Sixth Group, a subsidiary of China Railway Group, to develop the infrastructure.

On a simple 365-day calculation, the initial capacity would equal 91.25 million tons a year and could reach 109.5 million tons after expansion.

Those volumes are equivalent to about 7.2 and 8.6 times, respectively, the 12.7 million tons of cargo handled by the entire Port of Kribi in 2025, according to data published by the port authority on April 21, 2026.

The comparison is not a traffic forecast. It assumes that the railway operates at full capacity every day and compares a railway’s theoretical capacity with a port’s actual cargo throughput. It nevertheless illustrates the scale of the volumes announced by A&S relative to Kribi’s current activity.

Handling those volumes would require storage areas, cargo-handling equipment and loading facilities suitable for iron ore. The company’s statement does not say whether those facilities are included in the $6 billion budget or identify who would build and operate them.

Two Rail Projects to Coordinate Around Kribi

A&S also does not explain how its railway could connect with the planned Edéa-Kribi-Lolabé-Campo rail project. On June 4, 2026, the Cameroonian government, Africa Global Logistics and Camalco signed a memorandum of understanding to update studies and prepare the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the roughly 185-kilometer railway, according to Cameroon’s Transport Ministry.

Available information does not establish whether the CAR-Kribi corridor would use part of that future railway, have its own tracks in the port area or share infrastructure with Cameroonian mining projects.

That distinction matters because both rail projects are intended to carry minerals to Kribi. The Edéa-Kribi-Lolabé-Campo railway is expected to serve the Minim-Martap bauxite project, developed by Camalco, a subsidiary of Australia’s Canyon Resources.

On-Site Mobilization Shifts From March to Late 2026

A&S has already revised its project schedule. On Feb. 16, 2026, the company said it was moving from planning to execution and expected teams to be on the ground before the end of March. Its September statement now puts “operational mobilization” at the end of 2026, a delay of about nine months for which no explanation was provided. A&S says topographical and technical studies have begun but has not disclosed their progress or a timetable for subsequent stages.

No dates have been provided for the completion of studies, regulatory approvals, the start of construction or the railway’s commissioning.

A rail connection between CAR and Kribi has been discussed since at least 2011. On Feb. 11 of that year, an official from CAR’s Transport Ministry described the project as a priority and said financing would be mobilized with the aim of starting construction in 2015, according to Radio Ndeke Luka archives.

On Nov. 1, 2025, CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra laid the foundation stone for the headquarters of Trans African Railways System Ltd, the company behind the project, in Pani, about 30 kilometers from Bangui.

The ceremony, however, marked construction of the headquarters rather than the railway itself. Feasibility studies still had to determine the project’s cost, according to a report published after the event.

20 Billion Tons of Iron Ore Remains an A&S Estimate

The railway is primarily intended to transport minerals from assets that A&S says it controls in CAR.The company estimates that those assets contain more than 20 billion tons of iron ore, predominantly high-grade material, with a gross “in situ” value of $2.5 trillion.

That figure does not represent the value of a commercially recoverable mining project. It is a theoretical valuation of ore still in the ground and does not deduct material that cannot be recovered, capital required for mining and transportation, operating expenses or future changes in iron ore prices.

CAR’s 2023 EITI report cites iron ore potential of more than 500 million tons at Topa and about 3.5 million tons at Bogoin.

Those figures do not necessarily cover the same areas claimed by A&S. They therefore neither confirm nor disprove the company’s estimate of 20 billion tons. For Cameroon, the project’s economic significance will depend in part on the final route, the infrastructure required around Kribi and how that infrastructure is financed.

Until those details are available, it remains impossible to determine the investment that could flow into Cameroon, any commitments the government may have to make, or the revenue the corridor could generate for the port and transit activities.

Baudouin Enama