SA hands over rail wagons to Botswana

"This allows us to exploit Transnet Rail Engineering's significant capacity and competence regarding heavy engineering to drive industrialisation and economic growth on the continent," he said in a statement.

The specialised wagons were the first delivery in an order for 562, and would be used to convey bulk chemical grade salt from the Sua Pan mine in Botswana to Sasol factories in South Africa.

The Transnet engineering plant in Uitenhage, in the Eastern Cape, had already completed and delivered 200 wagons to mining giant Rio Tinto's operations in Mozambique.

Gigaba made the handover at the plant, which employs 1500 people. He said it had the capacity and ability to compete with the best rolling stock manufacturers around the world.

"It is one of the largest wagon refurbishment and build plants in Africa," he said.

Other Transnet manufacturing plants are located in Koedoespoort, Pretoria for locomotives; Salt River in the Western Cape for coaches, wheels and other rolling stock components; and in Bloemfontein.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge