Swazi plan for port linked by canal to Indian Ocean

The government of Swaziland - a nation with no money, no democratically-elected parliament and no coastline – is throwing its full support behind a harebrained scheme to build a shipping port at Mlawula and connect it by a canal to the Mozambican sea.

The intention is to construct the port on 15-20 hectares of land at a cost estimated by the media in Swaziland to be the equivalent of some R38.3 billion. And Moses Motsa, the so-called billionaire behind the plan, was quoted as saying the port would harbour big vessels, with docking for up to four ships at once.

The ministries reported to be involved in this crazy scheme are foreign affairs and international cooperation, public works and transport, commerce, industry and trade, tourism and environmental affairs and housing and urban development.

And the Times of Swaziland reported minister of commerce, industry and trade, Gideon Dlamini, saying: “At government level, we are fully behind the project and we are giving it undivided support. The project owners had done presentations to cabinet and we interrogated it and found that it is a wonderful one.”

But the government is appointed by King Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, and the port is described as being part of his efforts to turn his impoverished kingdom into a ‘First World’ nation by 2022.

Sources: Hellenic Shipping News, The Mozambican Investor and the Swazi media