Swedish Support to Botswana Railways

Botswana Railways was created in 1986, taking over from the National Railway of Zimbabwe. The railway take-over and rehabilitation was seen in both a national and a regional context. In the national context the railway was and still is needed as a cost-effective alternative to road-transport of heavy bulk goods through Botswana. In a regional perspective the railway was a means of transport of goods between the land-locked countries in the region, and also a link to the South African ocean ports at a time when Mozambique's three international ports as well as the port of Dar es Salaam were not able to operate effectively.