Times Of Swaziland: 10 000 JOBS IN CONSTRUCTION PHASE

10 000 JOBS IN CONSTRUCTION PHASE
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Ashmond Nzima on 11/03/2021 12:22:00


MBABANE - On completion, the Eswatini Rail Link is expected to deliver
significant socio-economic benefits to Transnet, Eswatini Railways and the
region.
Some of these benefits will include over E2 billion in direct economic
opportunities for small and medium enterprises. As reported yesterday, the
project is now becoming a reality. Through an expression of interest (EOI),
Eswatini Railways and its South African  Counterpart Transnet have formally
called for potential funders. On top of the obvious improved regional
integration and connectivity to the eastern seaboard ports of Maputo and
Richards Bay, the EOI has further outlined more benefits of the project. They
include approximately10 000 direct jobs during the construction phase of the
project. The invitation has been extended to those who need to move freight,
construction managers, and builders of rolling stock to get in touch, as the
long-planned Eswatini Rail Link (ESRL) project inches towards breaking ground.
project
The project is due to see 150km of new rail connect the eastern end of a South
African line, at Lothair in Mpumalanga, connect with the western end of an
Eswatini line at Sidvokodvo. The lines that run to those endpoints will also
require an upgrade, the project says; 282km worth of upgrades for Transnet, and
144km worth of upgrades on the Eswatini side. Most of Eswatini’s cargo comes
from South Africa, mostly via road, and the new link could help change that, the
ESRL project says. But more significantly, the new link would hook up to a
north-south line that runs the length of Eswatini.
Though it is due to act as a backup route for trains carrying coal for export,
the ESRL is being developed as a general freight line. Shifting 6.7 million
tonnes of freight a year onto that line will help with congestion on the coal
export link that runs from Mpumalanga to Richard’s Bay south of Eswatini, says
Transnet. And it will be able to scale up, significantly, with up to 12 trains a
day each up to 2.5km long. Transnet is now in the process of buying some 500
hectares of land required on the South African side, while Eswatini Railways is
securing about 700 hectares at its end. They did not say when they hope to have
those land parcels fully secured, or when they envisage actual construction to
begin. The closing date for the EOI is April 16 this year.