Gabon railway operator secures €312m from IFC and Proparco for manganese line upgrade

Setrag, the company operating Gabon's Trans-Gabon Railway, signed a €312m financing agreement with the International Finance Corporation and French development financier Proparco in Paris on 20 July 2026. The package combines €225m of new financing with the refinancing of €87m carried over from earlier phases of the railway's modernisation programme, funding the third phase of upgrades to the 648km line linking the Atlantic port of Owendo to Franceville in eastern Gabon.

A railway built around manganese

Setrag's ownership reflects the line's role as mining infrastructure as much as public transport: Eramet's Gabonese subsidiary Comilog holds 51% of the company, alongside infrastructure investor Meridiam with 40% and the Gabonese state with the remaining 9%. The railway is the sole route by which manganese ore mined at Moanda reaches export markets, making its reliability directly tied to Gabon's position as one of the world's largest manganese producers and exporters.

Part of a longer modernisation effort

The financing follows earlier phases of upgrades to the same line and came in the same month Eramet signed a separate memorandum of understanding with Gabon's government on expanding domestic manganese ore processing capacity, targeting up to 700,000 tonnes a year of processed output by the end of 2031. Together, the railway financing and processing roadmap point to a coordinated push by Eramet, Gabon and international development lenders to capture more value from Gabon's manganese resources rather than simply exporting raw ore.

Why DFI backing matters here

IFC and Proparco's involvement reflects a familiar model in African mining-linked infrastructure, where multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions fund rail and port assets that underpin private mining investment but would be harder for a single mining company to finance alone. For Gabon, keeping the Trans-Gabon Railway in good working order is essential not just for Comilog's manganese exports but for the wider economic activity that depends on the country's only significant inland rail link.

Setrag's shareholders have indicated further phases of the modernisation programme are likely to follow, with continued IFC and Proparco involvement expected given the multilateral lenders' long-standing role in financing the railway since earlier stages of its rehabilitation, underscoring how central development finance institutions remain to Gabon's mining-linked infrastructure.

Sources

• Railway Gazette International: Financing in place for latest phase of Gabon railway modernisation programme, 28 Aug 2026
• Proparco: Proparco and SETRAG reach a new milestone in the modernization of Gabon's railway network, 20 Jul 2026
• Africa Private Equity News: Proparco and IFC back Gabon railway upgrade, 21 Jul 2026

Photo: The port of Owendo in Gabon, the Atlantic terminus of the Trans-Gabon Railway used to export manganese ore. Delrick Williams, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.