Pretoria-Uganda’s High Commissioner to South Africa Paul Amoru has called for collaboration between Uganda and Transnet Limited, the large state owned South African Rail, Port and Pipeline Company.
The Ambassador made the call during a courtesy meeting with Fadzai Nyamasve, the General Manager of Growth and Diversification at Transnet Limited held at the Mission in Pretoria on Monday.
The meeting was a follow up on discussions held during the “Focus on Africa” Conference held on September 23rd, 2022 in Johannesburg, whose aim was to create a platform to take stock of Africa’s infrastructure industry, share knowledge and lessons leant in the development of integrated port and railway systems. At the conference, the Ambassador presented Uganda’s development plans under NDP III as well as key strategic infrastructure projects undertaken by the Government of Uganda. These included the development of the Bukasa inland Port, the Standard Gauge Railway, the three regional connectivity roads in DRC and the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP).
During Monday’s meeting, Amb Amoru called on Transnet to extend their collaboration to Uganda within the framework of the recently signed Uganda – South Africa Joint Commission of Cooperation.
“He shared that opportunities include manufacturing and repair of locomotives and wagons and supply of spare parts. He called on Transnet to consider investing in Uganda’s cargo and passenger transportation either directly or by mobilizing investors interested in the sector,” reads in part a statement issued by Uganda’s Mission in Pretoria.
On her part, Nyamasve also called for collaboration with Uganda in areas of capacity building and skills transfer in railway and pipeline sectors as well as port management.
Transnet runs specialized freight rail schools and pipeline schools that offer trainings on operations, maintenance, signaling, tractions etc. It also manages South Africa’s pipeline network that transports petroleum and gas products from the two crude refinery plants in Durban, traversing the entire country.