By Isaac Salima:
Expectations are high that the time taken to haul fuel into the country will be reduced following the re-operationalisation of the Marka-Beira railway line connecting Malawi to the Indian ocean.
Wednesday, a train carrying 1.2 million litres of diesel arrived at Marka Train Station in Nsanje District for the first time in 41 years.
The Beira (Mozambique)-Marka (Malawi) railway line has been nonfunctional due to damages on the line in both countries before rehabilitation works began a few years ago.
President Lazarus Chakwera witnessed the arrival of the train.
National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) Chief Executive Officer Clement Kanyama said railway transportation of petroleum products was the direction that the country should take.
He said the country would be receiving over 10 million litres of fuel through rail.
“The train has carried 1.2 million litres of fuel. This is a small train with 24 wagons. Each wagon contains 50,000 litres of fuel, which is an equivalent of about two [fuel] tankers. So, you can see that we are saving on transportation cost and time through rail.
“This train is expected to be coming here almost twice a week and we are happy that the tedious processes of transporting fuel through road transport will soon be a thing of the past,” Kanyama said.
The Sena Corridor has not been functional since 1983 until recently when Malawi and Mozambique embarked on rehabilitation works of their sections of the line.
Mozambique completed its part, with Malawi far from making strides in reconstruction of the 72-kilometre Marka- Bangula section.
The development means that the fuel that arrived yesterday will be transported through road from Nsanje to the strategic oil reserves in Blantyre.
Minister of Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara said they were working on fast-tracking the process of building a railway line from Marka to Bangula.
“We would like to have a transhipment station at Nsanje Boma, and not here [at Marka],” Hara said.
