Swaziland banks on railways to mitigate Agoa blow

Stung by the loss of trade benefits under the American trade initiative the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which before Swaziland’s delisting from beneficiary nations allowed shipments of Swazi goods to the US market with the cost advantage of no import duty payments, the Swazi government is looking to Swaziland Railway’s new rail link to mitigate anticipated job and tax revenue losses. As Transnet Freight Rail extends its line from Lothair in the Mpumalanga Province to the Swazi border, Swaziland Railway is rehabilitating old tracks and preparing to construct a new link. The line when completed in 2017 will connect Gauteng with Maputo via Swaziland. 3400 construction jobs will be offered to locals as the Swazi section is built, with a few hundred permanent jobs remaining once the line’s operations commence. This will partly offset job losses expected when Agoa benefits end. “We have great ambitions for railway in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and this rail link between South Africa and Swaziland is government’s most important infrastructure project at the moment,” said Minister of Public Works and Transportation Lindiwe Dlamini. Dlamini was speaking at June’s Southern Africa Railway Association (Sara) meeting in Midrand. The minister noted that feasibility studies would continue through next year, with actual construction commencing afterwards. “Swazis and local businesses will benefit from the new line. The movement of goods will also benefit the country’s economy,” Prince Hlangusemphi, Minister of Economic Planning and Development, testified before Parliament. He said the rail line was Swaziland’s brightest prospect for long-term economic growth. Swaziland Railway enjoyed a 25% profit surge last year, and is doing well this year with transit traffic. The new rail line will increase transit traffic exponentially, the company’s CEO, Stephenson Ngubane, told FTW. “We are seeing a much higher demand for imports by rail into Swaziland, and exports also. At present minerals from South Africa make up the bulk of transit traffic cargo,” Ngubane said. Transit traffic constitutes three-quarters of the four million metric tonnes of freight moved by Swaziland Railway annually. This slice may grow to 90% of cargo volume when the new line is up and running, and that percentage will be of much larger volumes. INSERT & CAPTION We have great ambitions for railways in the Southern African Development Community. – Lindiwe Dlamini