New Swazi minister puts the spotlight on infrastructure

MBABANE – The
five-year term of
Swaziland’s new
Minister of Public
Works of Transport, Lindiwe
Dlamini, which commenced in
November 2013, will witness
some significant transportation
infrastructure projects. The
opening of the long-discussed
Sikhupe Airport may happen by
year’s end. In 2017, the Lothair,
SA to Sidvokodvo, Swaziland rail
link will be completed. A bypass
road around the commercial hub
Manzini is the next major road
transport project on the horizon
and is intended to facilitate
travel to the Sikhupe Airport to
the east.
In terms of usage and
commercial pay-off, the rail line
appears promising. Rail shippers
from Gauteng will no longer
have to bypass Swaziland and
travel to Komatipoort for an
eastward turn to Maputo.
The new line will allow direct
northward passage through the
country.
The only certainty about
Sikhupe is that it will replace
the national airport operating
out of the Matsapha Industrial
Estate adjacent to Manzini.
Only one airline serves
Swaziland, Swaziland Airlink,
with one route, to and from
Johannesburg. Airline officials
objected to the move to Sikhupe,
which would inconvenience
passengers by adding 45
minutes additional ground
travel time. However, the air
carrier is majority owned by the
Swaziland government, which
made its decision long ago to
spend an estimated R1 billion
on a new air facility. No other
airlines have committed to
using the airport.
One project that the new
transport minister will not likely
pursue is the tolling of the main
highway connecting Mbabane
and Manzini. The tolling was
vociferously championed by her
predecessor before even louder
objections from Mbabane’s
Ezulwini suburb where the toll
plaza was to be located caused
the plan to be shelved. Road
construction and maintenance
continues to be financed from
government’s general fund and a
fee on foreign-registered vehicles
entering the country.
A landlocked country,
Swaziland depends on road links
to SA to move all its exports
and imports but for some bulk
commodities that travel more
cheaply by rail. Air freight
volumes are negligible and may
fall further due to higher road
transport costs to and from the
Sikhupe airport.