Kavindele asks govt to acquire stake in NWR
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Sat 14 Sep. 2013, 14:01 CAT
NORTH West Rail pioneered by former vice-president Enoch Kavindele has asked the government to acquire a stake in the railway line expected to connect Zambia and Angola.
And Kavindele says China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation which is currently building the US $1.5bn Benguela railway in Angola is among companies being considered to construct the North-West railway.
In an interview, Kavindele said Zambia would "catch up" with Angola in ensuring the railway connection between the two countries at Jimbe border was achieved almost simultaneously.
The 634-kilometre North West railway was estimated at US $1.3 billion.
"The North-West Railway project is a viable project as a stand-alone because it will transport about 2.5 million tonnes of cargo annually from the North Western to the Copperbelt to meet Zambia Railways," Kavindele said.
"We had a meeting with Hon Yamfwa Mukanga, our transport minister, and we have offered government equity in the project and right now, we await government response to our offer. It has always been our desire to partner with the government from the time this project was initiated. This government has shown unwavering support to ensure this project is fully realised to the betterment of Zambia."
Kavindele said NWR had received 17 unsolicited bids for companies interested in constructing the rail line, with 11 being Chinese while the rest were from South Africa, India, France and US.
"We have engaged government in inviting to take an equity interest in the project just as they have done in most of the mining companies operating in the country," he said, adding that NWR was also talking to some mining companies to buy equity in the railway line to broaden its shareholding structures.
Kavindele said the construction of the railway line on the Zambian side would "catch up" with the Angolan side where construction had reached an advanced stage.
"On the Angola side, the Benguela railway line has been rehabilitated up to Luacano, the border of Angola and DRC," he said. "But to come to the Zambian border, it will take one year to de-mine Mushiko province which is heavily mined as a result of the civil war. They will spend a year clearing the route of landmines. Once they have done that, that is when 324 kilometre to the Zambian border will be built."
Kavindele said the Chinese contractor building the railway line in Angola might extend to Zambia.
"The company that was rehabilitating the Benguela Railway line are saying that we could consider them to jump over and come to Zambia because it is not them who will be clearing the land mines," he said. "So, we are meeting them in the last week of September to discuss their coming into Zambia."
Kavindele said most potential financiers of the railway project were seeking government guarantees for funding.
"Barely a week passes without us receiving an offer of financing but when we ask for terms, they are saying that apart from everything else, they also want sovereign government which the Ministry of Finance is not ready to offer," said Kavindele.
"But it's not necessary and according to figures produced by our financial advisors, KPMG, our project is viable on its own."
Labels: ENOCH KAVINDELE, NORTHWEST RAIL COMPANY LTD
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Sino rail ready to partner with NWR
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Friday September 12, 2008 [04:00]
CHINA Railway Material Import and Export Company Limited has said Ron Forlee, who last week signed the MoU with the government over the proposed
railway line between Zambia and Angola, is not a representative of Sino rail.
And NWR has written to Vice-President Rupiah Banda over the government's decision to sign the MoU with other parties for the development of the railway line despite the matter being before the court.
According to the letter dated September 11, 2008 addressed to Northwest Rail Company (NWR) Limited chairman Enoch Kavindele, China Railway Material Import and Export Company president Gao Zhendou also said the giant Sino rail was ready to help partner with NWR company to develop the infrastructure needed to transport raw materials from the North Western Province.
Zhendou also said China Railway Material Import and Export Company Limited would use its knowledge and experiences in constructing Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA), Nigeria Railway as well as Angola Railway to perform engineering evaluation, engineering design and the possibility of discussing the operational management of Northwest Railway line as well as the joint venture among other things.
"I do not know any one whose name is Mr Ron Forlee and I am the president of China Railway Material Import and Export Company Limited. There is no CEO in my company," the letter read in part.
And in a letter to Vice-President Banda, who is also Acting President, Kavindele said NWR was "forced" to seek judicial intervention over the termination of construction licence for the railway line after dialogue attempts with communications minister and other key government officials proved futile.
"The recent actions of the honourable minister culminating in the signing of a MoU with unregistered entities has left the board of directors on NWR with no other alternative. Indeed, it is my concern that the matter may be a source of severe embarrassment for government in due course," Kavindele stated. "Our own investigations have revealed that the other party to the MoU, Zambezi Trans Railways is not a registered entity with Zambia and has no record of existence.
Mr Forlee who is named as chief executive officer of that company is a resident in South Africa and came to Zambia seeking a mining exploration assets in Mumbwa. It appears that Mr Forlee's primary occupation is that of being a broker, seeking to bring parties together for a commission if the deal is successful. He operates from his residence in Mount Road, Bryanston, Johannesburg SA.
"It is my sincere hope that you deem it necessary to intervene and allow NWR to continue with this very important national programme under the private-public partnership concept."
Last weekend, Siliya signed MoU with Zambezi Trans Railways chairperson Kapembe Nsingo, China Railways Limited chief executive officer Ron Forlee, and AYR for the construction of the 405 kilometre way line to connect North Western Province to the national line, eventually linking Zambia to Angola and was expected to come on stream in 2010 at a cost of over US $500 million.
Labels: NORTHWEST RAIL COMPANY LTD, SINO RAIL
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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
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Kavindele vows to pursue rail construction project
By Maluba Jere and Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Monday April 28, 2008 [04:00]
NO amount of frustrations will prevent us from successfully constructing a rail line to link Chingola to Solwezi, Northwest Rail (NWR) company Limited chairman Enoch Kavindele has said. And Kavindele has confirmed that President Mwanawasa has requested NWR to submit minutes of its meeting with Lumwana and Kansanshi Mines regarding the refusal by mining companies to sign off-take agreements committing to using the rail line.
Announcing the movement of construction equipment on site to Chingola, Kavindele also expressed sadness at the statement by Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) that it required about 65 working days before it could approve the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed northwest rail project.
Kavindele also announced that NWR was this week going to submit the 12 copies of the final EIS and also pay the K600 million statutory review and monitoring fee to ECZ.
“We are ready to start construction and we are moving on site this week in accordance with a directive made to us by the President during the meeting we had with him on April 10 which was attended by NWR deputy chairman chief Mumena,” Kavindele said.
“But ECZ is now telling us that we will only start construction 65 days after they approve our final EIS…of course, this is despite the command by the President that we start constructing immediately. So we shall use this time to train our people on site about the field works and also to construct the 100 metre demo line.”
Kavindele also wondered why ECZ took too long to approve the final EIS report when some projects had proceeded without the approval of the ECZ while in some cases, its authority had been overruled.
He, however, said he was not in support of projects that had proceeded without the approval of ECZ.
“I know of the steel plant in Kafue, cement plant in Ndola, the silos here and some Chinese-sponsored projects…all of which have proceeded without the approval of ECZ. But I am not supporting such movements and I don’t want to break the laws because I have spent my adult life making laws in Parliament,” said Kavindele.
“But, of course, we understand these as just challenges of indigenous development. Others were allowed but we have to wait for 65 days.”
The construction of the rail line to connect North Western Province to the national line and eventually linking Zambia to Angola was expected to come on stream in 2010 at a cost of over US$400 million.
Labels: ENOCH KAVINDELE, NORTHWEST RAIL COMPANY LTD, RAIL
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