JOHANNESBURG - More than 9 000 direct jobs are set to be
created in South Africa and Swaziland
during the construction of the Swaziland Rail Link project.
“Approximately 3000 and 6500
jobs will be created in South Africa
and Swaziland
individually during the construction of the Swaziland Railway line,” said
Transnet Rail Freight Chief Executive Officer Ravi Nair.
The Swaziland Rail Link
entails the construction of a 150 kilometre new railway line from Lothair in South Africa to Sidvokodvo in Swaziland and the revamping of two
existing lines in both countries. “This line has been designed
to carry 150 general freight wagons at a time and will be operated as a seamless
service without stopping at any of the boarders either into Swaziland or out of Swaziland,” Nair said.
He was providing an update
on the project during a media briefing which was held on Thursday in Kempton Park. “The feasibility phase has
been completed and it is now ready to be packaged to take to the market to look
at public-private partnerships,” Nair said.
The initial estimates from
the study indicate that about R20 billion will be needed for the project. The
bulk of the funds will go towards infrastructure and construction. He said progress has been
made in that the purchasing of the 506 hectares of land required on the South
African side for this project has been approved.
Negotiations with the land
owners are being finalised in order to purchase the impacted land. “Furthermore, approval to
exhume and relocate over 120 affected graves has also been obtained on the
South African side.
“The affected families have
been identified and engaged in this progress. The process of exhuming grave and
relocating them elsewhere is being done with the outmost dignity and respect
for the communities and the families involved,” Nair said.
The feasibility studies of
the Greenfield are complete and authorities in South Africa and Swaziland have granted both teams
with the necessary environmental permits.
Additionally, authorities in
South Africa and Swaziland
have granted the water use licenses, while the feasibility studies of the
existing lines that need to be upgraded are in progress. The lines are Ermelo to Lothair
as well as Golela to Nsese. The plans to resettle the affected households are
also in progress.
Nair said the Swaziland Rail
Link project will have positive spin offs such as improving people’s lives,
support regional integration in SADC and accentuate the promotion of
intra-Africa trade and economic sustainability throughout the infrastructure
investment.
Transnet said the project’s
primary objective is to reduce rail and road traffic congestion based on a
realistic and achievable system capacity.
Swaziland Railway Chief
Executive Stephenson Ngubane said the joint project is going to bring a lot of
benefits to Swaziland and South Africa.
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“For many years we did not
have a direct link and yet Swaziland
trades…in Mpumalanga and Gauteng, most of the flow of trade in import
and export come from [those provinces].
“With this project the cost
of transport will be reduced for as it is more direct through Swaziland and more direct to the Ports of
Richards Bay also including Mozambique
at a later stage,” Ngubane said. Swaziland has been able to relocate about 500 graves and
reburied. A total of 235 households will be resettled in Swaziland.
“This project is gaining
momentum and we believe that as we prepare the presentation for funding it will
be supported. We believe that the standard of the rail that we are going to be
constructing is going to bring a lot of efficiency and capacity,” Ngubane said.