An ambitious cross-border railway expansion project that many industry insiders said was dead in the water since it first made news following a bilateral agreement signed back in March 2014, is back on track between Namibia and Botswana.
This has emerged through the announcement of an “Expression of interest (EOI)” for the Trans-Kalahari Railway (TKR) line from Botswana’s Mmamabula coalfields north of Gaberone, to the Port of Walvis Bay.
Whereas a line already exists from the port to Gobabis near Namibia’s Buitepos border with its landlocked neighbour, the TKR Project serves to extend the line all the way through Botswana’s hinterland.
It is understood that the EOI phase of the project will run till November 8.
Although the project was enthusiastically received at first, it ran into funding problems from the start.
Answering questions in Botswana’s parliament a year of the agreement with Namibia was signed, the minister for science, infrastructure and technology, Nonofo Molefhi, said the project “was on held pending the sourcing of funds”.
At the time Molefhi said he was uncertain when work on the project would start, as private investors were still being sought.
In the intervening years, one of the executives who continued to promote the prospects of the TKR was Johny Smith, former CEO of Namibia’s freight rail operator TransNamib, now rail division head at Grindrod Ltd.
On several occasions he said that funding aside, the TKR will most likely go ahead as it made perfect sense to partner with Botswana for its heavy haul requirements.
But the TKR is more than just an export option for Botswana, Trans-Kalahari Corridor Secretariat (TKCS) CEO, Lesley Mpofu, has said on several occasions.
At a TKCS Conference held in Kempton Park before the Covid outbreak, Mpofu said that an ore-carrying rail option from Mmamaula to Walvis could also attract freight from countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia, especially given the logistical efficiencies made possible by the multi-modal Kazangula bridge across the Zambezi River.
A few months short of its tenth anniversary since it was first agreed to in March 2014, the TKR Project now seems like a fait accompli.
Pre-qualification phase have been set down for December and February 2024 following finalisation of the EOI phase.
Requests for Proposals for three months will apparently only materialise by March next year, while construction is only expected by January 2025.
It is believed that the line of 1 447 kilometres will run from Mmamabula north of Rasesa towards Phuduhudu where it will run alongside the road corridor from the vicinity of Kang in the south-western interior of Botswana.
Crossing into Namibia at the Mamuno border east of Buitepos, the TKR will link up with the existing line to Walvis Bay.
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