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Publish Date : 25-Mar-2014

A bilateral agreement on the anticipated N$100 billion TransKalahari Railway (TKR) project at Walvis Bay is signed by NAMIBIA and Botswana.

The agreement lay the way for the facilitation and the construction of a fully new 'heavy haul' railway line extending 1500 kilometres from Botswana's Mmamabula coal fields to Walvis Bay.

National Planning Commission (NPC) director general Tom Alweendo said that although trade figures between Botswana and Namibia - excluding diamonds - are still below N$300 million - they will "significantly increase" once the project is realized.

Alweendo said, "One of the biggest challenges faced in Africa is infrastructure, and providing this infrastructure to stay abreast with the economic growth experienced on the continent. Many countries are realising that we need to invest more in infrastructure, hence the two governments having undertaken this project”.

Even though the two governments have undertaken the project, the private sector will be roped in to execute it because according to Alweendo: "It is not the governments' responsibility to do everything but also to have the private sector involved".

An enthusiastic operations office under the managed of the committee of ministers, will be founded in Namibia to make sure the project gets off the ground.

Botswana's Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Onkokame Mokaila said SADC's integration can only happen with cross-border projects and that the TKR will also be important to open up the region's landlocked countries - Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia.

Botswana has a resource of 212 Billion tonnes of coal that has to find its way to new markets, and Mokaila said that this is the primary motivation for the agreement. It is expected that Namport will handle 65 million tonnes of coal from Botswana through TKR.

He added, "Coal will continue to be one of the cheapest sources of power for some time to come. Therefore, for Botswana, this project is absolutely key”.

He added, "This is a massive project. It will require our resolve to ensure we work with the private sector. We may need to partake in it as governments, but it must be private sector led”.

Namibia's works minister Errki Nghimtina approved saying once implemented, the TKR will improve the two countries' economies.

"We believe not only in the free movement of our people whereby they can access SADC services but also that we are partners in the present struggle for economic liberation and industrial development of our countries.

Nghimtina said, "It does not hamper existing gateways but paves a new path for additional role players. We envisage new social-economic activities that could not have existed today. Here I speak of job creation through another financial lifeline for people living along this route on both sides”.

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