THE Tsumeb-based N$50 million GPT-TransNamibia Concrete Sleepers (Pty) Ltd was inaugurated on Thursday.
The project is a joint venture between TransNamib and Indian GPT Group of Companies that has the capacity to produce 120 000 concrete sleepers per year. The factory has the layout provision to increase its production capacity by 100 per cent should demand pick up. Work on the project started in September last year, and the factory has already produced 7 000 railway sleepers for local use, which will replace wooden sleepers on the rail network. Concrete sleepers have a lower lifecycle cost compared to other alternatives for the same application and it allows track owners to operate higher axle load trains at a higher speed and thus improve the profitability for the track operators. The factory already has 70 employees, most of whom are from Tsumeb; the opening of the factory will lead to 100 direct and indirect jobs. Speaking on behalf of President Hifikepunye Pohamba, Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku said the factory would promote manufacturing and the broadening of the economy’s industrial base. GPT Group chairman Dwarika Prasad Tantia said the factory would source its major raw materials like stone aggregate and cement from the southern African region. Tantia said this was the largest foreign direct investment in Namibia by an Indian company in a project that has great potential of serving neighbouring countries like Angola, Botswana and Zambia. Although Namibia has been using concrete sleepers for some time, it is the first time that it will manufacture the sleepers. TransNamib CEO and current president of the Southern African Railway Association (Sara) Titus Haimbili said Namibia’s approximately 2 600-kilometre rail network constitutes a mixture of steel and concrete sleepers.
