22 Jul 2020

There is an urgent need to fast-track the development of the Mmamabula-Lephalale rail link to allow for the mining of coal reserves in Botswana.

Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Thulagano Segokgo said, at the launch of the Minergy Coal/Botswana Railways Masama coal mine first export load by rail recently, that fast-tracking the rail link was important given that the current rail line capacity could not support the envisaged coal export volumes.

Mr Segokgo said prioritising investment in infrastructure that supported and stimulated Botswana’s key industries such as coal mining and agriculture was essential to ensure the country’s ability to sustain diverse and growing economy that would generate attractive employment opportunities.

He indicated that even though inadequate infrastructure may be a threat to Botswana’s growth potential, at the same time it also represented great opportunity for the private sector investors to finance physical infrastructure assets such as railways.

Mr Segokgo further said there were significant opportunities for railway development in Botswana as a result of potential production of larger volumes of goods such as bulk minerals and commodities that were natural markets for railways, including coal, petroleum products, copper, cement, salt, grain, soda ash, among others.

“Taking cognisance of the key role played by railways in stimulating economic development, government is facilitating initiatives aimed at ensuring the development of the key missing railway links in Botswana,” he said.

To that effect, Mr Segokgo said the ministry had set aside funding for the bankable feasibility study for both Mosetse-Kazungula and Mmamabula-Lephalale.

“The process for evaluating the submitted bids for the consultancy for the study is ongoing,” he added.

Furthermore, he said government was considering alternative development models such as Public Private Partnerships to develop some of the rail links.

“To unlock economic value there are four proposed new railway development lines in Botswana in Mmamabula- Lephalale, Mosetse- Kazungula, Trans-Kalahari Rail line and Ponta-Techobanine. This creates ample opportunity for the private sector to participate in infrastructure development in the railway sector,” he said. ENDS