Development of Rail Sector Important for Overall Growth - Alive2green

Development of Rail Sector Important for
Overall Growth – SARA
Tuesday, 12 October 2010 | Catherine Sasman
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WINDHOEK – Although governments in the region and the continent acknowledge the importance of the
railways, investment in the sector remains negligible.
Regional – and continental – competitiveness would be greatly improved if railway systems were developed
to be more efficient and robust, said the Executive Director of the Southern African Railways Association
(SARA), Bernard Dzawanda, in Windhoek last week.
To raise awareness on the importance of the rail sector, SARA has organised a railway conference and
exhibition in November under the theme ‘Towards an effective and efficient railway industry in Southern
Africa’.
It seeks solutions for the rail industry stakeholders, said Dzawanda.
The importance of Africa’s rail network is spelt out in the African Union Brazzaville and Algiers declarations.
Dzawanda said the Brazzaville Declaration provides a clear framework that governments and other
stakeholders can leverage on to try and restore railway capacity with the objective to improve sector
performance.
Through the declaration adopted in 2006, African ministers agreed on the need to revive railways and
ensure improved performance after a detailed study was made of the sector.
An action plan was similarly adopted which highlighted the key role played by the transport sector in
Africa’s economic and social development, particularly the ‘opening up’ of Africa for business.
It looked at the role of leadership, coordination, harmonisation, facilitation and advocacy that should be
done at the African Union Commission.
Another consideration was the importance of the rail networks to further African integration and that it
should constitute the mainstay of a master plan for transportation on the continent.
It acknowledged the need to establish and strengthen institutional structures for coordination comprising
different stakeholders at national, regional and continental levels.
Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are important components to the coordination role, but resources
need to be mobilised for the implementation of the programme, and considered essentially the
responsibility of the African Union (AU), the RECs and member states.

The declaration goes on to state that women have a place in the development and integration of the
African railways.
It said national, sub-regional and regional strategies should urgently promote railways as one way of
realising the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have the deadline of 2015.
In particular, these declarations point to the importance of regional railways and SARA as integral parts of
the North-South Corridor at a high-level conference held in Lusaka, Zambia in April 2008.
SARA is an association of railways in the southern African region, and was formed in 1996, after it was
acknowledged that a lobby group is needed to advocate for fair surface transport competition and service
delivery by railway.
But it is a SADC body, and its actions are guided by the SADC Protocol, which consolidated the existence of
SARA, giving effect to the formation of regional associations to facilitative collaboration with other
stakeholders.
The members of SARA are railway operators in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland,
Mozambique, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
But, said Dzawanda, railways in the southern African region and the continent at large are faced with the
plethora of challenges, “whose origins are in a big way historical”, such as civil unrest and the fact that the
building and maintenance of railway systems are very costly.
Railways suffer from lack of investment, and are thus faced with critical capacity challenges. Lack of
investment has also resulted in poor conditions of infrastructure, as well as a shortage of locomotives and
wagons.
And, added Dzawanda, the resource element of railway service delivery should not be ignored, especially in
view of the skills drain with many leaving the continent and no capacity to retrain staff, and the impact of
HIV/AIDS on the sector’s workforce.
Notwithstanding the challenges of the sector, performance of railways is high on SADC’s agenda.
Regional ministers of transport last year discussed the evaluation of railway concessions, transportation of
hazardous materials by rail and approved a handbook on this matter, and considered infrastructure funding
and waived a fuel levy for railways, which was welcomed by the industry.
The ministers also agreed to create railway funds in member countries after years of lobbying from the
industry players.
Such a fund, said Dzawanda, would go a long way to level the playing field between the rail and road
sectors.
“The role of government in rail infrastructure development cannot be understated,” said Dzawanda.
But huge challenges still remain.
As far as infrastructure is concerned, there is a sore lack of investment in rail tracks – in construction and
maintenance – there is a lack of connectivity, which is regarded as the “missing links”, and countries use
different gauges across the region.
In equipment, there is a shortage of locomotives and wagons, and there is a maintenance backlog of these.
The region still has not harmonised its legislation regarding the railway sector and has to contend with
different standards, as well as ownership and operations issues.

The Brazzaville Declaration undertook to include rail transport as an indispensable means of transport in
national poverty alleviation and to ensure social and territorial cohesion.
It gives priority to the integration of railways programmes, particularly to those that are geared towards the
interconnection of national railway networks.
Hence, it calls for the harmonisation of technical and commercial regulations, and the standardisation of
networks to promote inter-operationality, safe operation and good governance, and for greater viability of
African railway companies.
There is also a call for the support and strengthening of the Union of African Railways (UAR), and for the
investigation of the possibility to start a financing facility for railway development facilities, particularly
through the creation of an infrastructure fund.
The declaration stated that appropriate measures should be considered for the allotment of a “significant
percentage” of nations’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to finance the sector.
SADC ministers also considered this, but have not yet decided what percentage of the GDP should go
towards this.
Dzawanda said governments’ investment in rail infrastructure in line with the declaration are critical, but
added that governments cannot go it alone; they need the inputs from the private sector in both operations
and supply of equipment.
He said governments on their part must assist in investments in infrastructure, the removal of tariff
controls, the simplification and streamlining of customs procedures and formalities, to level the playing field
between the rail and road sectors, waiver fuel levies of rail operators, and provide duty exemptions or
concessions on imported railway equipment and materials for recapitalisation purposes.
Source
Source: New Era
Website: www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=13539
Author: Catherine Sasman
Date: 12 October 2010