The works and transport ministry has completed the Final Feasibility Study (FFS) for the Trans-Zambezi Railway Extension from Grootfontein to Rundu and Katima Mulilo. The study’s major result is that the proposed 772km new railway line is technically, environmentally, legally, financially, and economically feasible and should be built.
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The research looked at the development of the Trans-Zambezi Railway extension from Grootfontein to Katima Mulilo through Rundu, which would be part of a multinational railway line connecting Namibia and Zambia via the Zambezi area. The FFS was done by MR Technofin Consultants Ltd, a Canadian firm, and was co-founded by Namibia and the African Development Bank. The FFS has subsequently been filed with the Ministry of Labour.
Aim of the Trans-Zambezi Railway Project
The cross-border rail project intends to connect new mines and mining activities, notably from neighboring countries, to the railway network along the Walvis Bay – Ndola – Lubumbashi Development Corridor, transporting items from Zambia’s mineral-rich Copperbelt to Walvis Bay. For the geographical context of this critical transport corridor, the corridor is excellently positioned to handle commerce between the SADC area and Europe, North and South America, and rising markets in the East. Tsodilo Resources Limited, a mining company located in Botswana, termed the projected rail expansion “a major development.”
The Trans-Zambezi Railway provides a close rail transportation system for the delivery of potential iron products from Tsodilo’s Xaudum Iron Formation project, such as iron concentrate, iron pellets, potential direct reduced iron (DRI) products, and ferrosilicon, throughout central, eastern, and southern Africa, as well as international markets. Tsodilo’s chairman and CEO, James Bruchs, indicated that the firm was encouraged by the study’s findings since the assignment’s major conclusion is that the projected 772km Greenfield line is sustainable and should proceed. Tsodilo also praised the projected train expansion between Grootfontein and Katima Mulilo, noting that it will pass via Divundu, which is only 35 kilometers from the company’s licensing site in northern Botswana. Tsodilo is an international diamond and metals exploration firm based in Botswana that is looking for mineral reserves.
