The President of Gabon Launches Construction Works on the Kobe Kobe Deep-Sea Port
The President of the Republic of Gabon, His Excellency Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, officially launched the construction works of the Kobe Kobe Deep-Sea Port on Monday, June 8, 2026, in Nyonie, within the Komo-Ocean department.
This historic ceremony, carrying strong symbolic significance, was attended by several administrative, governmental, legislative, and traditional authorities, as well as members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Gabon.
The project is the result of a tripartite partnership agreement signed on April 23, 2026, between the Gabonese State, Africa Global Logistics (AGL), and the Algest Investment Bank group. The Kobe-Kobe deep-water mineral port has now entered the concrete execution phase of its construction.
Located on the Atlantic coast of the Estuaire province, this large-scale project, covering an area of 500 hectares, includes a mineral port, four berths, a 535 km mineral railway, a 400-megawatt hydroelectric dam (Booué), and the Belinga iron mine with a production capacity of 100 million tons of iron per year.
With these four components, this essential infrastructure for the development of the Belinga project will connect production zones to the railway network and then to a port platform, enabling the export of processed products to international markets.
This integrated project reflects a shared ambition: to collect, process, and promote Gabon on a regional scale, in line with the vision of the Head of State, who aims to equip the country with strategic infrastructure capable of supporting the local exploitation of resources, their transformation, and export. The objective is to make Gabon’s natural resources a driver of economic transformation, job creation, and regional development, while strengthening industrial sovereignty and positioning the country as a logistics hub in Central Africa.
With the development of all these related infrastructures, more than 9,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs are expected to be created by 2030.
Thanks to the quality of investments, this unifying project brings together investors and development partners from several countries across all continents, including AGL for infrastructure, China Railway for railway development, EDF Synohydro for energy infrastructure, Trafigura for international marketing of minerals and processed products, Fortescue for mining and industrial expertise, among others.
This further enhances Gabon’s attractiveness as an economic destination, supported by strong institutions, political stability, and openness to multiple economic partners contributing to the country’s multi-sectoral development.
The implementation of these major structuring projects reflects the vision of the Head of State: to drive Gabon’s economic and industrial transformation, create wealth and added value, generate employment, and strengthen the country’s competitiveness, positioning it as a center of excellence in the sub-region and beyond.
Source: Présidence de la République Gabonaise
