FEASIBILITY studies for South Africa and Swaziland’s proposed R17-billion rail link are still under way‚ pushing its construction to 2017‚ Transnet Freight Rail general manager Cleo Shiceka said on Tuesday.
The two countries announced the project in 2012‚ and suggested at the time that construction would begin last year. The railway line is set to increase the rail capacity of general freight and coal exports‚ and it will be the largest rail expansion project undertaken in the region since 1976.
It will link Lothair in Mpumalanga with Sidvokodvo in Swaziland and free up capacity on Transnet’s network‚ allowing it to move additional coal to Richards Bay Coal Terminal.
Feasibility studies were in their final stage‚ and would be completed by October‚ Shiceka said on the sidelines of a briefing about the Southern African Railways Association conference set to take place at the end of the month.
Geotechnical and environmental studies were still outstanding. Once that was complete‚ she said agreements with landowners‚ environmental impact assessments and a socioeconomic impact assessment was required before construction could begin.
Its construction included a new single line covering 146km to be built by Transnet. It would have an initial capacity of 15 million tons a year.
Swaziland Railways chief executive Stephenson Ngubane said the rail link was critical for the flow of goods in the region.
Rail‚ he said‚ was “making a comeback‚ after years of neglect. The market share of rail in Southern Africa had dropped to just 13% by the year 2000‚ from 85% in the 1980s and 32% in the 1990s‚ Swaziland Railways,” Ngubane said.
The Southern African Railway Association (Sara) is seeking greater harmonisation in policy and technology between railway operators in different countries. It hopes to lobby governments to prioritise rail.
In 2010‚ Southern African transport ministers agreed to exempt railway operators from paying a levy on the fuel used for locomotives. Rail operators have argued that a chunk of the fuel levy was used to improve road infrastructure‚ to the disadvantage of rail.
Swaziland is one of a few countries that have implemented that decision. It exempts operators from paying a fuel levy at the pump.
South Africa‚ however‚ has no exemption for rail operators‚ Shiceka said.
The Sara conference is expected to detail regional projects which could include greater private sector involvement.— BDLive