Resuscitation of railways to drive development

Efforts to improve Southern Africa's transport infrastructure would benefit from greater private sector participation, a rail transport analyst told IRIN on Wednesday. Allen Jorgensen, an executive of the RailRoad Association of South Africa, said current attempts to rehabilitate road and railway networks were hampered by the heavy-handed approach of parastatals, which weakened transport systems in the region. "In general, governments own the railway and road services but find that they do not have the funds needed to maintain the infrastructure. Cumbersome regulations and the lack of competition also impact negatively on transport operations," Jorgensen said. He pointed out that where efforts to attract private investment had been successful, this had led to a "dramatic improvement" in services. "The improved efficiency of Mozambique's Nacala port and railway system is a direct result of efforts by a consortium of Mozambican and American companies. What is similarly needed in the rest of the region is greater emphasis on public-private partnerships," he commented. However, companies benefiting from the use of local transport infrastructure were expected to act in a socially responsible manner. The Nacala Corridor is the rail line from the port of Nacala on the Mozambican coast, across the provinces of Nampula and Niassa, to Malawi. It is the quickest and cheapest outlet to the sea for Malawi and large parts of Zambia. With the success of the Nacala venture in mind, Mozambican transport officials are meeting with the World Bank in Washington this week to discuss funding for reconstruction of the Sena railway line, which runs for over 600 km from the port of Beira to the Moatize coal mines in the western province of Tete, with a spur into Malawi. The existing line suffered extensive damage during the civil war and is the only one that has not been reopened since the cessation of hostilities in 1992. It is to be rebuilt and operated by a consortium formed by the Mozambican rail company, holding 49 percent of the shares, and the Indian group Rites and Ircon, with 51 percent. Jorgensen noted that resuscitated transport networks, such as the Benguela railway corridor linking the Democratic Republic of Congo and western Zambia to Angola's ports, could act as a spur to regional growth and integration. Last year Angola had launched a US $4 billion programme to repair railways damaged by the civil war. While South African rail operator Spoornet was seen as the leading contender in bidding for the contract to rehabilitate and manage Angola's railways, the United States, France, Britain and Portugal were also interested. But trade unionists have called attention to the effects of private public partnerships with regard to job creation. "Countries recovering from civil war may benefit from public private partnerships since they have very little of their own revenue to kick-start the rehabilitation of these transport networks. But other countries, such as South Africa, and until a few years ago, Zimbabwe could do without it," Jane Barrett of the South African Transport And Allied Workers Union told IRIN.