DBSA, DBN Officially Issue N$2.6 Billion TransNamib Loan
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) have officially issued and signed off a loan worth N$2.6 billion that will be used by Namibia’s railway company, TransNamib Holdings to acquire new rolling stock, TransNamib Holdings CEO, Desmond van Jaarsveld disclosed.
Van Jaarsveld said during a meeting of CEOs of Namibia’s state-owned enterprises held in Windhoek that the funding secured from the DBSA and DBN has now been secured formally in writing and signed off officially by the two financial institutions.
The funding is important because the company has been failing to carry out its mandate of maintaining railway infrastructure and having running rolling stock because of old locomotives, with the oldest locomotive being 53 years old, he said. The loan will be honoured through the company’s five-year Integrated Business Strategic Plan (ISBP).
He praised TranNamib’s technical teams for having ‘done wonders’ with the old infrastructure to keep and run the locomotives on the poor railway lines.
Van Jaarsveld said the N$2.6 billion funding will be used for the much-needed replacement of the rolling stock and acquiring multipurpose wagons amongst other equipment. He mentioned that going forward, the company will need to be flexible with its business. He said ‘empty legs’ as experienced by road transporters means that the company will be losing money by running empty wagons.
Van Jaarsveld said he was happy that the procurement of the locomotives will take place very soon. There is a lead time of 24 months and the company is working on a 24-month interim solution that will see the leasing of additional locomotives, he added.
He also gave an update on the proposed Trans Kalahari railway by Namibia and Botswana and disclosed that in a recent inter-ministerial meeting with the various officials from Botswana and TransNamib, the two governments signed off the timelines for the development of the new railway line
Furthermore, Van Jaarsveld said Namibia needs to focus on the regional integration of its railway with neighbouring countries as well as work together with road transport in an intermodal system.
Regarding future plans, TransNamib is planning to improve its efficiency and increase its customer base.
The company recently informed the Ministry of Mines and Energy, that it only had a capacity to transport only 14% of Namibia’s total fuel requirements. With such shortfalls, the company’s carrying capacity needs to be ‘upped and increased dramatically’, van Jaarsveld.