Maravi

NWR not shaken by termination of rail project, says Kavindele

NWR not shaken by termination of rail project, says Kavindele
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Thursday May 29, 2008 [04:00]

NORTH West Rail (NWR) Company has said it is surprised but not shaken by government’s decision to terminate its permit to construct the rail line to link Copperbelt to North Western Province. NWR chairman Enoch Kavindele also regretted that the government had not been supportive to the US $400 million rail project as it had continued to issue negative statements about the project.

Kavindele was reacting to the announcement over the weekend by communications minister Dora Siliya that the government had terminated NWR’s permit because the rail company was delaying to start constructing.

He said NWR was serious about developing the 405-kilometre line to connect Zambia to Angola as demonstrated by the 100 metres demo line that the rail company laid in Chingola.

He said that it was only the approval of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) by Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) that was holding back construction works.

“We are surprised by the decision by Honourable Siliya because we have been regularly updating both herself and the Minister of Finance on the progress we have been making on the project,” Kavindele said.

“And according to the progress report we sent to ministry of transport last year, we stated that we are ready to commence construction by February 2008 and we could have achieved that had it not been for EIS which we are expecting from ECZ to give us the green light. What is even more surprising to us is that government has continually been issuing negative statements about the project. We would prefer to work with government to ensure this project is completed on time rather than wasting time fighting,” he said.

“In fact, our permit was issued in 2006 and is valid for five years while the construction was to last for a period of three years, and we have shown them our plan to finish the rail line by 2010. So it is surprising that the minister made such an announcement…but we are not shaken.”

Kavindele also said NWR had already spent “billions” of private sector money on the project and that continued negative statements might scare away the investors who had fully committed themselves to financing the project.

Over the weekend, Siliya announced that the government had decided to revoke the construction permit alleging that the promoters of the North West rail line had not shown commitment to constructing the line.

Recently, President Mwanawasa said people should not be surprised if government revoked NWR’s construction permit because the company had not shown seriousness about constructing the project.

The construction of the rail line to connect North Western Province to the national line, eventually linking Zambia to Angola was expected to come on stream in 2010 at a cost of over US $400 million.

Labels: NORTHWEST RAIL COMPANY LTD, RAIL

posted by MrK @ 4:27 AM