The ambitious 1,500-kilometer Trans-Kalahari Railway and Port project (TKRP), a collaborative venture between Botswana and Namibia, is now approaching its decisive stages after nearly three decades of navigating bureaucratic hurdles.
On March 18, the TKRP management office in Windhoek announced that CPCS Transcom, a London-based consultancy, had secured the bid to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study. This study will evaluate the project’s viability and provide advisory services for selecting a developer, should the project prove feasible. CPCS Transcom will undertake the study for a fee of N$29.6 million over 100 weeks, having outperformed three other international contenders for the contract.
This new feasibility study follows a preliminary assessment conducted in 2016, also by CPCS Transcom, which asserted the project’s viability pending the outcomes of a more detailed analysis.
Should the project receive the green light for construction, it will represent the largest Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the country’s history, overshadowing all other proposed projects in terms of scale and ambition. Financial estimates from a Deloitte commercial assessment, reviewed by this publication, estimate the construction cost at approximately USD 12 billion (P164.6 billion). The railway is envisioned to transport a portion of Botswana’s estimated 2 billion tons of coal reserves to overseas markets, including China, India, South Korea, Japan, and Germany.
Deloitte’s assessment highlights key features that make the project suitable for a PPP model, including substantial capital costs, the longevity of the asset, its critical role in the coal supply chain and potential for other mineral resources, bulk goods, and containers, and significant opportunities for innovation in its design, construction, and operation.
The proposed TKRP rail line will extend from Botswana’s Mmamabula coal basins through the Kalahari to the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia. The project will be executed under a PPP concession with a Design, Build, Own, Operate, and Transfer (DBOOT) arrangement, given its prohibitive cost for public financing alone. The contractor will finance, design, construct, operate, and maintain the project and will own and operate it during the concession period to recoup investments and cover operational and maintenance expenses, following an agreed tariff structure. Upon the concession’s conclusion, ownership will transfer to the member states.
Documents reviewed by this publication show that 12 major international contractors, consortia, and joint ventures responded to TKRP’s expression of interest by the November 8, 2023, deadline. Seven of these are international and regional entities, while five are Namibian. However, no Botswana company, consortium, or joint venture expressed interest despite procurement regulations favoring both Botswana and Namibian companies.
Among the interested parties awaiting CPCS Transcom’s findings are international construction giants like France’s NGE Contracting and Egypt’s Orascom Construction, owned by Egyptian billionaire Onsi Sawiris. Other notable respondents include China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and India’s Rail Vikas Nigam Limited. Two South African companies, Nations Capital Projects and Lesedi Nehawu JV, also expressed interest. Meanwhile, the Namibian respondents include Grindrod, Fullbright Investment, Helo Group, West Coast Energy, and a Namibia-South Africa consortium known as the Trans-Kalahari Railway Initiative.
The project’s scope encompasses constructing an extensive rail line from the Mmamabula coal fields in Botswana to the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia, complete with necessary rolling stock such as locomotives, wagons, and maintenance facilities. If this final feasibility study grants approval, the successful bidder will also build a conveyor belt system and a terminal for loading and unloading trains in the Walvis Bay area. Additionally, the contractor will be tasked with dredging the port to accommodate large vessels.
Other crucial components include developing infrastructure and equipment and constructing loading areas to unlock economic potential along the route or at terminals. In Botswana, the rail line will originate from the Mmamabula coal fields, connecting to the existing railway alignment up to Rasesa. From Rasesa, new tracks will deviate westward, passing north of Molepolole and south of Letlhakeng, joining the Molepolole-Kang Road at Maboane. The railway will then align with the Molepolole-Kang road until Morwamosu, where it will connect to the Trans-Kalahari Corridor via the Mamuno Border Post. This rail service promises seamless transit without border stops.
In Namibia, the railway will trace the Trans-Kalahari Corridor past Gobabis and through Omitara, where it will veer westward, realigning with the Trans-Kalahari Corridor at Okahandja, continuing to the Walvis Bay harbor.
