TIRI MASAWI
Namibia and Botswana are moving closer to the procurement phase of the N$200 billion Trans-Kalahari Railway (TKR) project after completing its feasibility study.
The two countries will now focus on financing mechanisms, transparent procurement strategies and community engagement for the project.
The railway is estimated to cost about N$200 billion (US$16 billion) and will span about 1 500 to 1 690 kilometres, linking Botswana’s coal fields and mineral-rich interior, including Mmamabula, to the Port of Walvis Bay.
Speaking at a meeting of technical partners and the two ministers responsible for transport on Friday, Namibian Minister of Works and Transport Veikko Nekundi said the feasibility study is now complete.
He said the completion was a testament to the persistence of the Joint Technical Committee, Joint Steering Committee and consultants.
“I thank them wholeheartedly for their rigour. However, our task now is to interrogate its recommendations with discipline, to address the financing mechanisms, to agree on transparent procurement strategies, and, crucially, to ensure that community engagement is not an afterthought but a continuous, living feature of this project,” Nekundi said.
He said the railway belongs to the communities along its route.
“Therefore, as we deliberate, we must embed the principle of local participation into our decisions. Namibian and Batswana contractors, professionals, and suppliers must be given genuine opportunities at every phase; not as charity, but as a deliberate condition of how this project shall be executed,” Nekundi said.
Nekundi said the planned railway is not just a transport project, but a development corridor and a physical spine for regional integration.
“It is the answer to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area’s call for tangible connectivity. When this line is complete, it will carry more than minerals through Walvis Bay. It will carry the collective ambitions of two nations and the economic liberation of a landlocked region,” he said.
Botswana Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Noah Salake said December 2026 should not arrive before the two countries have agreed on when construction of the TKR will commence.
“Our people want to see the first step that we are on. They yearn for a logistics system that will put food on their table. I am told that in the first phase this corridor will employ about 6,000 Batswana and about 4,000 Namibians. In the first phase,” he said.
Salake said the railway will be vital in modernising transport infrastructure between the two countries and make it easier to transport goods, including coal from Botswana to Walvis Bay.
“For me, the TKR project is more than just steel tracks. It is more than enhancing our logistics ecosystem. It is a monument to the deep historical solidarity, friendship and numerous possibilities that would exist for our people if we built this rail corridor that Bismarck and company attempted to bury many years ago,” he said.
He said cross-border teams from the two countries had navigated complex hurdles in aligning their respective national regulatory and environmental frameworks, structuring multinational procurement strategies and extending timelines to ensure a thorough technical and financial assessment.
“In the completion of this study as we have done today, we will unlock the beginning of what we are about to embark on – the construction of the first and longest direct, heavy-haul logistical corridor in Southern Africa, opening linkages for Botswana’s landlocked interior to Namibia’s Atlantic gateway at the North of the Port of Walvis Bay,” he said.
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