James Hall
SWAZILAND - King Mswati III is accelerating his efforts to acquire foreign financing to rehabilitate and expand Swaziland's road and rail infrastructure. The king was recently in Italy to formally sign a R90 million low-interest loan from the Italian government to refurbish the 40 year-old main east-west line of Swaziland Railways.
Prior to his departure, Mswati played host to Korean government officials to thank them for their grant earmarked for road network expansion. This is on top of Japanese financing obtained to build a Northern Highway connecting the timber industry centre Pigg's Peak, near the soon to be completed Maguga Dam, and the citrus industry centre Tshaneni, offering a high-speed corridor through a currently inaccessible and underdeveloped area.
Government's 2001-2002 budget released recently calls for an overhead bridge at the Matsapha Industrial Estate to expedite truck traffic to and from factories, and an expansion of Swaziland Railway's dry port at Matsapha.
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