Rail project

Twelve international companies have lined up for a chance to construct a multibillion-dollar railway line that will connect Namibia and Botswana.The bid forms part of a public-private-partnership arrangement for Namibia’s landlocked neighbour. The development stage of the project is expected to commence in January 2025.Botswana’s transport minister Eric Molale told Bloomberg that many companies were eager to finance the construction of the 1 500-kilometre stretch of railway.“There is a lot of money out there in the world and unsolicited bids have been coming in,” he said.“The United Arab Emirates, the Qataris, the Chinese, the Indians have also come to say this is not a long line for them and it is, in fact, a comparatively short one that they can do very quickly,” Molale added.Waiting timeBotswana’s intention to connect to Namibia’s ports via rail is influenced by slow turn-around times for the transfer of shipments at South African ports.“We learnt in June that the waiting period at all South African ports to offload and load can be a minimum of two weeks, floating on the sea for that period,” Molale said.The Botswana Chamber of Mines expressed confidence in the project, despite years of delays plaguing its development.The railway line is expected to traverse the breadth of the Kalahari Desert, and will connect Namibia and Botswana in Gobabis.The Trans-Kalahari Railway has been slow to develop since Botswana and Namibia first signed an agreement in 2010. The original impetus was to export coal from eastern Botswana, but prices declined and financiers have shunned backing the fuel. It will now focus on exports from the fast-developing Kalahari Copper Belt in the west of the country.A memorandum of understanding for the railway line was signed in 2010 and a pre-feasibility study was concluded in 2011. A bilateral agreement was signed in 2014, while a development study was completed in 2016.

Rail project

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-02

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Rail project

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-02

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