[miningmx.com] – THE construction of a new railway line in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province is set to start within the next four weeks.
Minister of economic development, Ebrahim Patel, says the new railway line is part of government’s promise to move coal from road transport to rail transport. Road networks in Mpumalanga have become damaged and in parts destroyed by the huge volumes of trucks transporting coal to Eskom’s power stations in the province. The majority of Eskom power stations are in Mpumalanga.
“In Mpumalanga, following our work over the past year, we are now ready to turn the sod to commence with the site clearing and construction of the first new large rail lines by the state since 1986,’ Patel said.
Patel was part of a panel of ministers delivering a briefing post the state of the nation address. The four ministers are part of cabinet’s Infrastructure Development & Job creation cluster.
The new railway line will be a 63km railway line from Ermelo to Eskom’s Majuba power station close to Amersfoort.
Some of the funding for the project – that has long been on the cards – will come from the World Bank.
In 2010, the World Bank made approved a $3.75bn loan to help South Africa achieve a reliable electricity supply.
Part of the World Bank’s Eskom Investment Support Project (EISP) made provision for an amount of $485m to go towards “low-carbon energy efficiency components’. Per the finance body this included a railway to transport coal.
Initial estimates of the cost of the new coal railway line was R4bn to R5.3bn. The heavy haul line will have the capacity to move between 14 million tons and 21 million tons of coal per year (Mtpa).
Brian Molefe, Transnet CEO, says the group’s other planned railway project, a new railway link that will pass through Swaziland, is also developing rapidly. Transnet plans to build the link to increase rail capacity to Richards Bay.
“So far so good. We’re getting into the final stages of planning. Construction should start anytime from 18 months to two years. It’s at final engineering, then from there it’s the land acquisitions and negotiations. Servitudes and so on. That will take time, but we will be ready in 18 months (to start with construction),’ Molefe said in parliament.
Transnet has been a major part of government’s massive new infrastructure development plan. In 2012, president Jacob Zuma announced that Transnet’s capital expenditure will increase from R110bn over the next five years, to R300bn over the next seven.
The projects will vary from developing new railway lines, to the new dugout port in Durban with most of the funding to come from the company’s own balance sheet.
