Mozambique, Namibia Boost Transportation and Export Infrastructures

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Mozambique is tackling infrastructure challenges, which could impede its gathering resources boom. It is beginning to solicit bids for a $2 billion railway and port development project to boost its coal export potential, according to the state-owned rail and ports group CFM.

A number of proposals have been made for the upgrading of old rail lines and for the construction of new lines.

The proposed $2 billion tender will cover a 525-kilometer rail line from the Tete province to Macuse in the Zambezia province, and a new Indian Ocean port to handle about 20 million tons of coal annually. The upgrade of CFM's Sena line from the Moatize coal fields to the coast is near completion. This will enable the transport of 6.5 million tons of coal, up from the current 3 million tons. A further upgrade to give the line a 20 million-ton capacity should be completed by the end of 2014. Within five years, various projects, with a total investment of $12 billion, will enable 120 million tons of coal to be moved from Moatize annually.

Across the continent on the southern Atlantic coast, Namibia has plans to double cargo handling and rail cargo by 2017 in the five-year NDP4. This highlights Walvis Bay as a key to realizing logistics and transport ambitions.

Port expansions will focus on accommodating ocean-liner container ships and offering a turnaround time of 24 hours. The plan also highlights the importance of completing the rail connections. The plan covers the importance of completing rail connections to Angola, Botswana and Zambia.

The Namibian Ports Authority has completed the first phase of its terminal optimization program at Walvis Bay. This included the broadening of the quay to 500 meters and to a depth of 14 meters. The second phase to be completed by 2016 will provide a capacity of 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and then to 1 million TEUs by 2020.

Namibia has the potential to provide the shortest link between Southern Africa and Europe and the Americas, plus routes to the Middle East and Far East.

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