Transport division in talks with Botswana Railways
General Electric (GE), the behemoth diversified American innovative solutions provider has shown interest to invest in Botswana. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Sub Saharan Africa, Thomas Konditi told this publication that they were in talks with Botswana Railways to explore how they can derive mutual benefit from the transport and logistics industry. He explained that their strategy is to go along with the National Development Plan (NDP) policies and programmes and invest in their priority areas to support economic growth, while they remain relevant to the market and maximize growth in return.
Konditi fielded questions on the sidelines of the Ernst and Young Strategic Growth Forum Africa held in Sandton, Johannesburg. General Electric, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listed firm is a fortune 500 company with a market capitalization of US$ 303.5 billion. It has interests in among others oil and gas, health care, transportation, retail, power and energy, and mining.
Botswana is faced with rail transportation challenges as a result of old trains and locomotives which are costly to operate. The country had to halt operating a passenger train while only the goods train remained in operation.
Konditi said there is ample opportunity to do business in Botswana, which could also see an improvement of transportation in the mineral led economy. He pointed out that Botswana was a landlocked country, yet rich in minerals that need to be exported out of the country for money spinning. “Botswana needs proper rail infrastructure especially in the area of locomotives, to easily transport minerals like coal to ports in other countries,” he said.
Botswana has had trouble transporting minerals like coal. A route was established to go through Zimbabwe to Maputo in Mozambique to transport Botswana coal, but after a single trial run, the route was abandoned.
The country has over 212 metric tonnes of coal reserves, and government has a coal roadmap programme, which is aimed at exploiting coal to the fullest.
In Southern Africa, GE has made investments in rail infrastructure in Namibia, Angola and Zambia.