The Ministry of Transport and Communications has proposed the construction of the Kafue-lion’s den railway line, to run from the Neganega area to the lion’s den in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Team engineering company lead consultant Brian Nkandu disclosed this during the stakeholder’s consultation scoping meeting for the environmental social impact assessment of the Kafue to Chirundu railway link project in Chirundu district.
Mr Nkandu explained that the railway line will be 304km long from Zambia to Zimbabwe with Zambia covering 95 kilometres from Kafue to Chirundu.
“The Kafue-Chirundu railway line lies in Lusaka and Southern provinces, traversing over four districts namely Kafue, Mazabuka, Chikankata and Chirundu districts before crossing into neighbouring Zimbabwe,” he added.
He said the railway line is a single gauge of 1600 millimetres, adding that the single gauge dimension was selected because it fits both Zambia and Zimbabwe’s existing railway designs.
He said the railway line will pass through small scale farming areas cutting the Mazabuka road near the turnpike, running south along the tarred Kafue Chirundu main road through Kabanana and into Chirundu border town.
“The railway line will cross the Zambezi River into Zimbabwe terminating at lion’s den town where it will be linked to railways systems of Zimbabwe to port of Beira in Mozambique,” he said.
And Ministry of Transport and Communications Inspector of railways Jordan Zimba said Chirundu should embrace the construction of the railway line, adding that it promises a viable and increased outcome.
“There is no railway project in Zambia that can be compared to the Kafue-lion’s den railway,” he added.
He further explained that the railway line will attract investment, noting that investors will be guaranteed an increased turnover as this will be the shortest.
“This should motivate you to support the construction of the Kafue Chirundu railway line as it comes with huge benefits.
Mr Zimba explained that the railway construction has immense economic benefits, among them employment creation through contracts or temporal jobs during the preparatory and construction phases.
He further disclosed that permanent jobs will be created in the operational and maintenance phases, adding that there will be an improved local economy through increased income generation through wages and salaries of employees which will trickle down to the locals.
“We will have increase in revenue for both central and local government arising from taxes and other levies to be paid by the contractor, “he said
Meanwhile Chirundu District Commissioner Stafford Kayame implored all stakeholders to be supportive of governments’ railway infrastructure development through the Ministry of Transport and communications.
“I call upon everyone to be attentive and active during this consultative meeting,” Mr Kayame implored.
“Let us take advantage of the honour we have been given to make meaningful contributions towards the success of the project” he said.
Dreaming is free
FUNDS FROM WHERE ???????
THE NEXT 5 GENERATIONS ?????????
Zambian government has a lot of amusing stories. Why not improve some of the exiting infrastructures and industrials which are not currently profitable. Even the little money we have is being wasted. Look at how much money has been spent of Zambia Airways which is still on ground and the pilots and the crews cannot wait be in the air.
This is good news. Cross-border infrastructure like this will actually boost economic growth for both Zambia and Zimbabwe. One of the reasons why Africa is still lagging behind in terms of developmemt is because so many good projects like this are shot down by skepticists on the basis of capital/funding. If however, you take the case of post-war Germany and even the US, they invested every Mark/Dollar in the Autobahn and Highways respectively. A few years later, both countries experienced an economic boom that could not have been possible without their surrounding infrastructure.
This will make life and trade much easier . I can do my import and export business much easy when this rail is built. Lots of development under pf. Twalumba. Clive Chirwa came here from diaspora and did nothing as expected. Upnd diasporans are good at talking and insulting but useless are actions.
Wise investment. Let it be an electric rail line. In your feasibility study for this project include manufacturing electric locos and wagons within the country. Where possible, mine an underground tunnel to cross Zambezi river for the rail line. Note that we have copper , iron and other required metals other countries do not have such minerals. In Africa, we are the second largest producers of copper. I cannot dream of importing an electric motor for the locos rather I would dream of manufacturing motors here in ZED, We will never grow if we think and believe IMF money will make us grow. We grow by getting maximum value from our resources.
Zambia needs more raillines. A country so vast cant have only two raillines. How do you facilitate trade and commerce?
At this rate everything in zambia will be owned by forigne investors, everything.
Then when they start increasing prices ,
ati ” they work for HH……”
hahahahaa… Good luck with the rail-line going thru the mountains of KAPILI-NGOZI>>>>
What’s the cost of this project? Let me guess. Borrow billions more and fast forward 2026, we are still negotiating with our Zim partners
YAMALASHA?
These are just pipe dreams by visionless men who start dreaming when elections are near…if ever they built this road just know they will put toll gates even if they use taxpayers funds
How much did the road in the picture cost, it looks substandard.
There has been talk of this Njanji project talk for a long time and nothing is materializing, There is NorthWest Railway System from Solwezi to Injmbi in Ikelenge nothing up to now, then Tazara link to Petauke nothing up to now. Railway construction is very costly and I don’t see any economic to embark on such a huge project instead fixing the run down line between Chililabombwe and Livingstone and Mulobezi lines. Lets fix one problem at a time. Why is PF govt trying to bring new projects on board yet there are many that have been suspended until further notice due to decreased revenue collection by the treasury? Rome was not built in a day. Better we improve what has been run down and complete all pending projects in progress we are not competing with any one.
Solution to underperformance of Tazara znd Zambia Railways it seems is construction of another railway line. Long live Zambia!
This news is progressive and needs support , if you cannot project then you cannot go any where, we has some poor minds in Zambia who seem to have nothing in their minds all they focus on is failure, ” it cannot happen these the malefactors who do nothing but pulling everything down. ”
Zimbabwe is has great potential for business than small Botswana where we have that marvelous bridge . but Zimbabwe will have massive business impact on Zambian economy, Zimbabweans are very industrious people if someone didn’t punish them with sanctions they would have developed very rapidly.
In the region they are the leading nation in many natural resources in the ground.
The project & feasibility study is SADC approved and preliminary work is being conducted by the Team Consulting Group of Italy. These are not as simple as you view them, they are serious projects.
Nthimba – And you think this road will be free to use…you will have to pay for it via toll gates which has become the norm in Zambia yet the whole scheme is flawed and wrongly applied.
I don’t see Zimbabwe recovering soon because its politics is too toxic to preside over any economic recovery. ZANU-PF has corrupted key institutions of governance. U hv to agree politically before embarking on the hard work of providing public services more or less on budget, more or less on time. ZANU-PF has a sense of entitlement to govern Zimbabwe and cannot and will not allow anyone else to govern Zimbabwe. It’s wht they’ve exported to Uganda and are trying to export to Zambia.
The existing railway line is not even utilized to its capacity then you want to create another one?
SO TRUE ZAMBIA RAILWAYS IS IN A MESS AND VERY ERRATIC CAN YOU IMAGINE ONE TO ZIMBABWE
ZR MANAGEMENT HAS NO CLUE AND THE BOARD LEAVES MUCH TO BE DESIRED, JUST RECEIVING HUGE SITTING ALLOWANCE FOR NO CONTRIBUTION EXCEPT TO AGREE TO MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS