Regional rail operators put weight behind MCLI

All three regional rail

operators have agreed

to fund the Maputo

Corridor Logistics

Initiative (MCLI) in full for the

next year at least.

This is good news, in the long

term, for the development of

multimodal transport along the

corridor and the reduction of

costs and delays, according to

chief executive officer Barbara

Mommen.

Transnet Freight Rail, Swazi

Rail and the Mozambican

rail utility CFM have agreed

to cover the operating costs

of the corridor management

institution, which has been

largely funded by the private

sector for the past 12 years.

There is also some project

funding in the pipeline from

the World Bank’s Sub-Saharan

Africa Transport Program which

will see an MOU drafted to set

up a public private partnership

between the public sector in the

form of the three government

utilities and the MCLI as the

private sector.

“Authorities in all three

governments understand that

they have to speak to the private

sector in order to overcome

challenges on the corridor, and

vice versa, and at the moment we

are the private

sector,” she

says.

Mommen

says the

funding will

enable the

MCLI to

concentrate on

“predictability,

reliability and

efficiency.

“To achieve

this we will ensure that we do

not become a rail organisation.

We will continue to be an

inclusive corridor organisation,”

she says.

There is potential on the

corridor for developing

a multimodal transport

system which makes the

most productive use of the

investments by

both the private

sector in the

form of trucks

and trailers

and the rail

authorities.

“Road and

rail need to

work more

symbiotically.

This means

fresh thinking

by both rail and road operators.

“Now is the time for

multimodal transport if we

are to preserve the regional

infrastructure.

“The ministries of transport in

Mozambique, South Africa and

Swaziland are all very supportive

of this process,” she says.

Being part of a public private

partnership will give the MCLI

greater lobbying power in the

government sector.

“What it does is to bring both

the policy and implementation

arms of government into a

corridor institution. It is very

exciting to combine that with

private sector users, investors

and service providers,” she says.

Going forward she says the

focus will be on the provision of

“proper corridor services that

allow us to add value to all the

stakeholders.”

The provision of services

will also ensure the future

sustainability of the MCLI.

INSERT & CAPTION

Now is the time for

multimodal transport if we

are to preserve the regional

infrastructure.

– Barbara Mommen