Wezi Tjaronda
29 September 2008
Windhoek — The Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) is in the process of conducting feasibility studies on dry port facilities along Namibia's three corridors.
Two years ago, the company said it was planning to establish an inland container depot or dry dock in Gobabis once the cargo volumes on the Trans-Kalahari Corridor increased.
The planned development forms part of the Trans-Kalahari Express, a multi modal transport system between Gaborone in Botswana and Gauteng in South Africa to Walvis Bay port.
The main objective of the dry port development project is to promote intermodal seamless transport along the various Walvis Bay Corridor routes, an objective that will be pursued through upgrading existing and/or developing new dry ports or inland container depots at the rail heads of the national rail network at stations at Gobabis along the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, at Grootfontein/Tsumeb on the Trans-Caprivi Corridor and Ondandwa/Oshikango on the Trans-Cunene Corridor.
WBCG Business Development Officer Agnetha Mouton told New Era last week the establishment of dry ports depends on various factors such as volumes of cargo, investment possibilities and the participation of various stakeholders.
According to a fact sheet of the WBCG strategic plan, the rail head or dry port development project would include project preparation and tendering under which fall feasibility studies and technical design study of rail head/dry port sites and facilities, managing the tender process for construction and procurement, construction and procurement and construction of rail heads/dry ports as regards site development and facilities.
It would also include procurement and installation of handling equipment and warehouses.
The planned development of the three dry port facilities whose duration was two years was supposed to start last year, but Mouton said the project was delayed because of many factors including funding for feasibility studies, stakeholder participation and lack of capacity.
The estimated investment requirements for dry ports at three rail heads, according to the strategic plan, would amount to US$9 million.
The strategic plan said the railhead development would promote more efficient cargo handling and improve the supply chain.
TransNamib Holdings Ltd will be a stakeholder but the implementation, said Mouton, would depend on the setting up of faculties.
Presently, more than 35 000 tonnes of cargo per month are moved along the corridors, which are transit traffic between the international market and the rest of the SADC region.
The WBCG constitutes a public private partnership (PPP) of transport stakeholders, who jointly work towards developing the various corridor routes through the west coast harbour of Walvis Bay to facilitate fast, reliable and efficient transport along these.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
