Zimbabwe signs MoU for an ambitious tripartite port

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Nicholas Goche, was in Mozambique recently where he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with his counterparts Paulo Zucula and Frank Ramsden of Mozambique and Botswana respectively on a US$7 billion tripartite port and railway project.

The ceremony took place in Techobanine in Mozambique's southern-most district of Matutuine last Friday. The deepwater project includes construction of an 1100-kilometre railway line linking the three countries.

Among goods to be carried on this corridor are gas, fresh produce, fertiliser, crude oil and derivatives as well as minerals, notably coal. Land-locked Botswana will also use the railway line and port to import fuel, diversifying its fuel import routes to reduce its dependence on South African supplies.

According to Mozambican media, Zucula told journalists after the signing of the accord that the private sector had already guaranteed access to the necessary finance and was just waiting for the formal commitment of the three nations.

Zucula pointed out that feasibility studies had been completed and that he was certain work would begin next year. The Mozambican minister said the Techobanine project was coinciding with a regional boom in extractive industries, with large discoveries being prepared for exploitation.

"The transport and communications sector plays an important and determinant role since the viability of exploiting these resources depends on our capacity to bring them to market," he pointed out.

The project is also billed to reduce the significant deficit in the region's transport infrastructure, which is one of the main factors in the high cost of consumer products in southern Africa. At the signing ceremony, the Botswana minister, Frank Ramsden, said an efficient transport system would guarantee conditions for rapid economic growth and boost his country's mining sector. "We need economic freedom, not just political freedom," Ramsden said.

According to information published when the MoU was signed, 2012 has been set for the launch of the project that is estimated to take four years to build on a plot of 30,000 hectares, 11,000 of which are earmarked for industrial units.

This infrastructure has been planned since colonial times and was re-launched in 1999 when an agreement was signed between Dobela and Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Mozambique, the Mozambican government's port development company and port and rail company respectively.

In addition to the countries in the MoU, the facility will serve other SADCC countries like South Africa and Swaziland. Techobanine lies 70 kilometres south of the port of Maputo and 20 kilometres from Ponta do Ouro on the South African border.

The project will be undertaken on a concession basis for its various components. The port complex is designed to process 200 million tonnes of diverse cargo per year, from general to bulk, and passengers. As part of more efforts to diversify its trade routes, Botswana is currently involved in the development of the Trans-Kalahari Railway (TKR) with Namibia, a public-private partnership project partly aimed at increasing private sector involvement in the development of the country's economy.

The US$9 billion project, which will run parallel to the Trans-Kalahari Highway (TKH) that already links the two countries, is expected to create an alternative route for the import and export of commodities and make Botswana the transit hub of the SADC region.