Maravi

Kavindele seeks to meet Levy over N/West Railways

Kavindele seeks to meet Levy over N/West Railways
By Maluba Jere and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Friday March 28, 2008 [03:00]

NORTH West Railway Company chairman Enoch Kavindele has said it is unfair for President Mwanawasa to say that they are not serious about constructing a rail line connecting Zambia to Angola. Reacting to President Mwanawasa’s statement that government might consider taking over the Northwest Rail Company (NWR) and make the rail line state owned, Kavindele said he would seek to meet President Mwanawasa when he returns from Botswana to get the understanding of the statement.

NWR was last November granted a 10-year rail construction permit by Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) and the company has announced that it has so far mobilised about US $400 million for the 405 Kilometre line to connect Zambia to Angola.

“We are very serious about the project. The only drawback is the reluctance by the two mining companies (Lumwana Copper Mines and Kansanshi Mine) to sign the off-take agreements otherwise we are all set,” he said.

Kavindele also said he believed that if construction of the rail line started this year, it would be ready by 2010 to fulfill President Mwanawasa’s recent undertaking to his Angolan counterpart.

He also said NWR expected President Mwanawasa to assist the company to obtain the off-take agreements from the two mining companies.

“It’s a condition of the loan that the two mining companies sign off-take agreements,” he said. “In order for Lumwana to raise $584 million, they had to show their financiers the processing agreements they entered into with Chambishi Smelter.

Likewise, we are being asked to produce off-take contracts and there is nothing unusual about it. So we hope now that the government wants to speed up this project, they will help us obtain the off-take agreements from the two mining companies.”

Kavindele further said that he had just got communication from the financiers of the project that the funds had been available for some time and that had now attracted interest of $750,000.

Kavindele added that he appreciated the government’s urgency to develop the North Western Province, and transport infrastructure.
“So it’s most unfair for the President to say that we are not serious with the project because we were only granted the Investment licence last year in November,” said Kavindele.

Labels: ENOCH KAVINDELE, RAIL

posted by MrK @ 8:14 PM