{"id":427432,"date":"2011-05-20T12:23:40","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T12:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/20\/the-northwest-rail-the-railroad-to-resources\/"},"modified":"2011-05-20T12:23:40","modified_gmt":"2011-05-20T12:23:40","slug":"the-northwest-rail-the-railroad-to-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/20\/the-northwest-rail-the-railroad-to-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"The Northwest Rail – the Railroad to Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Enoch Kavindele<\/p>\n

20 May 2011<\/p>\n

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The abundant natural resources including minerals of the North Western Province have been known about for a longtime since George Gray founded Kansanshi Mine in 1891.<\/p>\n

The discovery of copper at Lumwana by Rio Tinto and RST in 1961 failed to materialise into viable mining projects because of the absence of regional infrastructure.<\/p>\n

It has always been observed that the upgrading of the highway, construction of power lines and power generation in the province would trigger off massive development.<\/p>\n

This is now becoming a reality with the construction by Zesco of enhanced power line to Kansanshi and Lumwana Mines and the development of the Kabompo Hydro Power Project by CEC and now the railway will change all this and the sleeping giant that the Province has been will now awaken to take its rightful place in the economic development of the country.<\/p>\n

The North West Rail is an initial 254km line with stations, sidings, weighbridges and loops from Chingola through Solwezi to Lumwana with a second phase planned to extend it to Angola’s Benguela line at point to be mutually agreed by authorities in both Zambia and our oil-rich neighboring country.<\/p>\n

The take off point is from south of the bridge over the main Chingola to Chililabombwe road, connecting the existing rail link formerly owned by ZCCM, which feeds into the Railway Systems of Zambia.<\/p>\n

The line runs south of the Chingola-Solwezi road up to 15kms, and then crosses the road before meandering through a number of watersheds on its way to North Western via chiefdoms of Kalilele and Mulonga and eventually entering the Kansanshi mine area before terminating at Lumwana 65kms west of Solwezi.<\/p>\n

An alternative route explored would have taken the rail from Luano in Chingola across the Kafue Bridge into Chililabombwe and over the watershed between the DRC and Zambia. This is the old Copperbelt to Mwinilunga road; however, public opinion settled for the current route.<\/p>\n

The urgency and need to lay rail line to connect North Western province to the rest of Zambia and beyond the frontiers of this country has never been more so than now.<\/p>\n

North Western province, for its vast natural resource wealth is currently witnessing unprecedented levels of foreign capital being poured into the area.<\/p>\n

A lot of entrepreneurs and many international mining firms are positioning themselves to tap into the huge reserves of copper, gold, iron and many other mineral resources known to exist in the area.<\/p>\n

Looking at the current trends, one would safely assume that foreign direct investments into the mining sector in the area would hit over US $6 billion in the next five years from the current levels of slightly below US $2 billion.<\/p>\n

Just the Chinese alone envisage an investment of over US $5 billion in the Mwinilunga mining project, while an iron and ore project at Tika is also being touted.<\/p>\n

These planned projects are besides First Quantum Minerals’ plans to open the “Trident Mine” at Kalumbila in Solwezi that is expected to gobble over US $1.1 billion.<\/p>\n

The agriculture potential of the area is also coming to the fore as evidenced by a number of foreign entrepreneurs going into the province to take advantage of the highly nutritious soils and good rainfall patterns to grow crops on very large scale basis.<\/p>\n

Brazilian and Zambian investors are keenly looking at investing in a sugar estate to produce biofuels while the Saudi Arabians have also been granted 5,000 hectares to grow pineapples in Mwinilunga.<\/p>\n

Amidst all these huge and ambitious large-scale economic activities, the main recurrent and crucial question remains whether the province, and indeed the country has enough infrastructural muscle to support these levels of investment?<\/p>\n

The North Western province has weak connectivity to the rest of the country, with some cases being non-existent.<\/p>\n

The decision by the government of the Republic of Zambia to reinstate the license of North West Rail Company has attracted much interest, justifiably so.<\/p>\n

The interest and number of debates that this project continues to attract humble the promoters and financiers of this project.<\/p>\n

More so, that this is going to be the biggest infrastructural project to be driven by indigenous citizens in the history of Zambia.<\/p>\n

In recognition of both the magnitude and importance of the Project, The North-Western Province Council of Elders has thanked the Zambian Government for reinstating the license and have pledged their support to its promoters.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Chief Mumena of Solwezi is Vice Chairman of the Project, further enhancing the emphasis of the economic and social development of the Province through the Project.<\/p>\n

Let me state categorically here that the North West Rail project is for real and it is a project whose time has come and is being taken seriously by both the promoters and financiers.<\/p>\n

We do understand the challenges ahead in implementing a project of this magnitude. Unlike some compatriots who have been fortunate to buy existing public companies in the on-going privatization program, this is a greenfield project.<\/p>\n

As such, the project brings with it entirely new dimensions and ways of building and operating a rail line, most of which have not been seen in the country.<\/p>\n

Some unique features of the project include the fact that the locomotives will be powered by both electricity and diesel, balancing the utilization of the two sources of energy.<\/p>\n

To get the project underway, we presented a viable project to various financiers and are delighted with the interest that we have generated from key financiers from within the region, Chinese, US and Europe, with concrete financial commitments from US private equity funds.<\/p>\n

The responses continue to exceed by far, our present needs. Generating such level of interest has already involved thousands of man-hours and significant expenditure by the Project sponsors including but not limited to an aerial survey, the pre-feasibility study and the engaging of several local and international consultants.<\/p>\n

The cost of the line from Chingola to Lumwana is US$500 million. Our financiers, especially those from the US, would like us to include a spur to Kolwezi in the DRC and have undertaken to provide additional funding and necessary support including extra locomotives, rolling stock, signaling equipment and all the necessary ingredients to ensure the project comes on stream to cater for the various companies, who are currently using the already over-burdened and in most instances, dilapidated road network for their bulk cargo.<\/p>\n

Given the complexity and magnitude of this project, experienced international contractors and consultants have been identified to lead the project, while discussions have commenced with Zambian sub-contractors.<\/p>\n

Apart from supporting the growing economic strides of North Western province, the promoters of the North West Rail are desirous to see the project has a significant component of poverty reduction, wealth creation and technological transfers during the construction and operational period; hence, the heavy involvement of local Zambians in this project is deliberate!<\/p>\n

Although this project is a combination of debt and equity financing, mostly from foreign partners, the project is indigenously driven and the doors remain open to other Zambians to participate both in its execution and operation.<\/p>\n

The ultimate aim will be to see NWR listing on the Lusaka Stock Exchange to further involve the participation of ordinary Zambians.<\/p>\n

Granted, the mines will be the major beneficiaries of a modern, dependable and cost effective mode of transportation of concentrates to processing plants on the Copperbelt, but the rail line will also allow huge relief on the road network and at the same time improve the safety, durability and longevity of our highways.<\/p>\n

We, the promoters of this line have a number of options on developing this line in the most cost-effective manner, but we are conscientious of the need to make this project labour intensive to absorb as many of the high number of unemployed youths.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Northwest Rail – the Railroad to Resources<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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