Maputo corridor pushes rail to reduce logistics costs

Rail links formed a central focus
of the 2010 annual general
meeting of the Maputo Corridor
Logistics Initiative (MCLI) held on
the historic Maputo railway station
platform in September this year.
For the first time in the MCLI’s
seven years of existence, all three
rail partners – from Swaziland, South
Africa and Mozambique (CFM) –
were represented at the AGM.
Gideon Mahlalela, CEO of
Swaziland Railway, said the role of
transport service providers, and rail in
particular, was to ensure accessibility,
affordability and availability to help
drive down Africa’s relatively high
logistics costs.
Rail efficiency had to be improved,
and new models of financing
infrastructure were being sought to
ensure the long-term sustainability
of rail and its competitiveness in the
future. Rail should “over-promise
and over-deliver” if it is to transform
its current status quo and become a
facilitator of economic growth and
investment.
Tau Morwe, acting chief executive
of Transnet Freight Rail, said little of
the R100-billion investment planned
by the parastatal over the next five
years was allocated to the Maputo
corridor, and urged the MCLI to
lobby for some of the investment to
be redirected to the corridor.
He added that this was the first
time that TFR had come on board
with the other rail partners which, he
said, showed the commitment of the organisation to working with CFM
and Swaziland Railway to ensure
continued growth.
The three organisations were jointly
working on various interventions to
ensure increased regional trade, he
said.
Miguel Guebuza, speaking on
behalf of the chairman of CFM,
Rosario Mualeia, said the corridor
represented an integration of peoples,
countries and cultures.
Some 14 countries were
represented at the meeting, which
attracted over 500 delegates.
He said the common goals of the
three rail service providers were to
facilitate the movement of people
and goods between the borders and to
eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.
The rail theme continued in the
joint report by MCLI co-chairpersons
Mathews Phosa and António Matos.
They began their report with the
announcement that all the rail partners
had now joined the MCLI as Key
Members (or funding members),
which would include them in the
decision making on the strategic
direction of MCLI.
Phosa welcomed Swaziland
Railway into the MCLI community
and said stakeholders had been
waiting a very long time for this.