Consortium plans Botswana-Namibia coal rail link

Consortium plans Botswana-Namibia coal rail link

A GROUP of coal-mining companies and Germany’s Siemens plan to build a railway linking Botswana and Namibia at a cost of about US$1 billion (N$6 billion), a Namibian firm in the consortium said last week.

The project, dubbed Electrified Trans-Kalahari Railway Line, will connect with the Botswana railway line at Morupule in north-east Botswana, a coal-mining area, and end up at Shearwater Bay, 30 km south of Luederitz in Namibia. “Costs are estimated between US$840 million and US$1,33 billion,” Mihe Gaomab, chief executive officer of Falcon Resources Holdings, the Namibian company in the consortium, told Reuters.He said the project was about to enter the feasibility study stage, with construction expected to start by the end of 2007.The money would be provided by companies in the consortium.Some of the other partners are Siemens South Africa, which will provide the technology and rolling stock, and a Canadian-listed company that Gaomab did not name.The money would be provided by companies in the consortium.A spokesman at South African iron and coal producer Kumba Resources said the company would monitor progress of the project, but was not directly involved.”At this stage Kumba is not involved in the project or feasibility study at all, but we are keeping an eye on it.If it takes off, we would look at it in terms of transport logistics,” the Kumba official said.Representatives of the companies in the consortium met in Windhoek late last year for consultations, and are due to meet again in February in Johannesburg, Gaomab said.The railway line is expected to transport about 20 million tonnes of coal from the Botswana coalmines to Shearwater Bay, where a port is also to be constructed.The port and the railway line will service mining and industrial activities in Botswana, as well as copper mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaomab said.A Siemens official said the number of members of the consortium was likely to increase as the project unfolds.”We are very keen to participate in the project.We intend to be the technology provider and also provide the rolling stock,” Gorman Zimba, the managing director for the Siemens South Africa transport division told Reuters in Johannesburg.- Nampa-Reuters”Costs are estimated between US$840 million and US$1,33 billion,” Mihe Gaomab, chief executive officer of Falcon Resources Holdings, the Namibian company in the consortium, told Reuters.He said the project was about to enter the feasibility study stage, with construction expected to start by the end of 2007.The money would be provided by companies in the consortium.Some of the other partners are Siemens South Africa, which will provide the technology and rolling stock, and a Canadian-listed company that Gaomab did not name.The money would be provided by companies in the consortium.A spokesman at South African iron and coal producer Kumba Resources said the company would monitor progress of the project, but was not directly involved.”At this stage Kumba is not involved in the project or feasibility study at all, but we are keeping an eye on it.If it takes off, we would look at it in terms of transport logistics,” the Kumba official said.Representatives of the companies in the consortium met in Windhoek late last year for consultations, and are due to meet again in February in Johannesburg, Gaomab said.The railway line is expected to transport about 20 million tonnes of coal from the Botswana coalmines to Shearwater Bay, where a port is also to be constructed.The port and the railway line will service mining and industrial activities in Botswana, as well as copper mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaomab said.A Siemens official said the number of members of the consortium was likely to increase as the project unfolds.”We are very keen to participate in the project.We intend to be the technology provider and also provide the rolling stock,” Gorman Zimba, the managing director for the Siemens South Africa transport division told Reuters in Johannesburg.- Nampa-Reuters

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