NAMIBIAN SOUTHERN RAILWAY
Posted on 13 February 2009
The rehabilitation project in terms of which the line to Luderitz was to be returned to service has come to a halt – hopefully temporarily – because funds have run out. About N$70 million is needed to rehabilitate the remaining 47km of track, minister of works and transport Helmut Angula announced recently. Plans have been approved by the ministry of finance, he says, to transfer N$30 million from the Northern Railway Project to resume work on the Luderitz line.
Angula is also quoted saying that the government is negotiating with China for a N$300 million “soft loan”, but concedes there are disagreements over the appointment of a contractor, and whether this should be a Namibian or Chinese concern. The Chinese government wishes to supply materials from China, and evidently believes that Namibian construction companies do not have the capacity to take on the project. There is a view apparently, he adds, that the Chinese “cannot work with African workers since they have a different culture.” An existing soft loan is earmarked for the extension of the northern railway to Oshikango on the Angolan border and the construction of a station there.
Related posts:
- NAMIBIAN NORTHERN LINE TENDER PROBLEM
- CHINA SIGNS NIGERIAN ABUJA-KADUNA RAIL DEAL
- CHINESE LOCOS BOUGHT FOR CASH
- ETHIOPIAN RAIL STUDY LAUNCHED
