John Matshikiza
South African rail giant Spoornet has clinched a deal giving it a concession for the rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of the rail line from Resanno Garcia to Maputo in Mozambique.
Spoornet will pay R200-million to the Mozambican government for this crucial 15-year concession. The concession will be in line with contracts signed by the state-owned South African company in 17 other African countries, including Cameroon, Cte d’Ivoire and Uganda.
In terms of the deal, Spoornet will upgrade the infrastructure of its Mozambican counterpart CFM on the Resanno Garcia line, including rolling stock and tracks. It will also take charge of the day-to-day operation of line.
The main advantage of this upgrade will be to increase freight capacity between South Africa and the port of Maputo, the Mozambican capital. The line carries about 3,2-million tons of freight per year with a capacity for about five million tons per year.
However, with South African ports already highly congested, and with Mozambique’s own demand for import and export capacity rising rapidly, the upgrade and higher efficiency of the Resanno Garcia line will allow this capacity to be increased to 15-million tons in eight years.
Although the bulk of rail traffic is accounted for by the export of granite and coal from South Africa, and the import and export of container traffic from both countries, the upgraded infrastructure will also have a spin-off in increased passenger traffic.
At present, Spoornet operates a passenger service only as far as Komatipoort on the South African side of the border. Operational control will allow it to extend this service all the way to Maputo.
A full agreement between the two countries is expected to come into operation on April 1. In the meantime, Spoornet will immediately commence surveys of the infrastructure of the entire line in order to assess technical and financial requirements for the proposed upgrade.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Maputo (then Lorenco Marques) was a major Southern African port. Its fortunes declined significantly as a result of the country’s liberation war, the withdrawal of the Portuguese colonial power and the 20-year civil war that followed. The improvement in port facilities and the intended upgrading of rail access in and out of the port is aimed at restoring it to its former importance in the infrastructure of the Southern African Development Community region.