Africa-Press – Namibia. MINISTER of Works and Transport John Mutorwa says his ministry, together with consultants appointed to conduct a study on the feasibility of the Trans-Zambezi railway extension from Grootfontein to Katima Mulilo, will present the study’s findings to the Cabinet next week.
Mutorwa said at Rundu on Wednesday when he launched the commencement of the rehabilitation of the Rundu-Divundu road’s third phase.
The government, through the ministry, commissioned a study to determine the feasibility of constructing a railway that would connect the existing railway from Grootfontein to Katima Mulilo in the Zambezi region, linking it with the railway line in Livingstone, Zambia.
According to Mutorwa, the consultants appointed to do the feasibility study have already presented their final report to the ministry.
He said the project is economically feasible, and the presentation would be made next Wednesday.
“Next week, I will gather with officials from the ministry and the consultants themselves and make a presentation to the Cabinet committee on finance, which is chaired by the minister of finance and the Cabinet committee on trade and economic development, chaired by the director general of the National Planning Commission.
“… so that we make presentations, explaining the findings of the consultants, and then start strategising in terms of how we source the funds so that this particular project can also begin,” Mutorwa said.
He said constructing a railway is not a small project, but the government is committed to it.
“But we need to plan now properly in terms of finding sources of funding,” the minister said.
The feasibility study was conducted by Canadian consultant MR Technofin Consultants Ltd, and co-funded by the government and the African Development Bank.
The cross-border rail project aims to link new mines and mining activities to the railway network along the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Corridor to transport minerals from the copperbelt in Zambia to Walvis Bay.
According to reports, the corridor is considered to service the two-way trade between the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, Europe, North and South America, and the emerging markets in Asia.
The Trans-Zambezi railway is envisioned to connect three countries from the ore-rich province of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), down to Lumwana mines in Zambia, with links to Solwezi, Kasempa, Kataba and Kaoma mines, down to Mulobezi sawmills and Sesheke, into Namibia via Katima Mulilo to Grootfontein, and to the port of Walvis Bay.
The Trans-Caprivi Corridor, which stretches from the Walvis Bay port to Lubumbashi in the DRC through Zambia, is considered very important by the three countries.
It is argued that constructing the railway line would be economically feasible as it could attract one million tonnes of cargo per annum – mostly comprising copper, agricultural products, timber, mining and other equipment by various industries along the route.
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