Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana Seal Agreement to Put Regional Rail on Track
On 12 July 2024, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana signed an agreement to co-develop a regional rail ending at the Techobanine seaport in southern Mozambique during a Tripartite Summit in Maputo, Mozambique.
The seaport will start off as a dry bulk terminal for the export of various minerals from the region. Thus coal from Botswana and lithium from Zimbabwe could all be exported from Techobanine port. It can also serve as an export port for neighboring Eswatini and South Africa.
The new port is near the Mozambique and South Africa border and will contribute to alleviate congestion at Richards Bay and Durban ports in South Africa. Techobanine port will also provide an alternative to Maputo and Beira ports in Mozambique. Its cost is estimated at USD 1.5 billion.
At the moment, the final alignment of the railway has yet to be finalized. As far as possible, it will attempt to follow existing railway tracks built during colonial times. If no rail tracks exist, the train is expected to run more or less parallel to existing highways.
One possible itinerary is as follows. From Techobanine port, the rail will move north to Maputo and then enter Zimbabwe near Nyala. From Nyala, it will connect with Bulawayo and traverse the Zimbabwe-Botswana border at Plumtree.
From the border it will link up to the coal-rich region of Morupule. The total length of the track from Techobanine to Morupule is about 1,500 km. If the rail line is extended to Gaborone, it will add nearly another 300 km of tracks, bringing the total length of rail tracks to nearly 1,800 km.
Most of the old railway tracks in Southern Africa was built using Cape Gauge while new rail projects in other parts of Africa are moving to Standard Gauge. This new project could be an opportunity to shift to a single standard.
The total cost of the project comprising of the seaport and regional rail is estimated at USD 6.5 billion. The idea was first brought up in 2011, but it did not appear to make much progress for many years.
With the tripartite agreement in place, the three countries are now in a better position to engage with international financiers, #MDB or #DFI. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has already committed to finance the feasibility study to the tune of USD 4 million.
Similar to the #LobitoCorridor which starts at Lobito seaport and connects Angola, Zambia and DR Congo, this project can be called the #TechobanineCorridor. Eventually, it could evolve into one of the key #EconomicCorridors for the region as economic development, facilitated by enhanced# connectivity, flourishes around it.