New rail link will grow Swazi transit traffic

Swaziland Railway’s new rail link from SA will be one of the key motivators for local economic growth in the near future. That’s according to Swaziland’s Minister of Economic Planning and Development, His Royal Highness Prince Hlangusemphi, brother to King Mswati. The 174-km line connecting Lothair in Mpumalanga with Swaziland Railway’s rail head in Sidvokodvo in the central part of the kingdom is on track for completion in 2017. “Swazis and local businesses will benefit from the new line. The movement of goods will also benefit the country’s economy,” Prince Hlangusemphi said. Swaziland’s increasingly depressed finances will receive a boost from the new rail line’s ability to tap into the comparably robust economies of SA and Mozambique. Some jobs will be created as Swaziland Railway employs workers for the new line, but real profits will come from transit traffic and the government tax revenues the cargo generates. Swaziland Railway ships locally excavated coal to SA, bulk sugar to SA ports for export, and hauls inputs and takes out final product for Swaziland’s garment industry. However, transit traffic comprises a large segment of the company’s profits. Of the four million metric tonnes of cargo moved by Swaziland Railway annually, 75% is carried as transit traffic. Currently, SA rail cargo travels from Komatipoort eastward through Swaziland, where it is directed to Durban or northward to Maputo. The completion of the Lothair line will offer a south to north route that will increase transit traffic and the income this produces. INSERT 75% The percentage of transit traffic moved by Swaziland Railway annually.