Botswana Targets 2027/28 Procurement for Trans-Kalahari Rail and Chobe-Zambezi Water Scheme

GABORONE, Botswana – President Duma Boko said Botswana is accelerating two long-delayed mega-projects: the 1,600-kilometre Trans-Kalahari railway and the 1,600-kilometre Chobe-Zambezi water transfer scheme. He told Parliament that bankable feasibility studies for both were concluded this year and that contractor procurement is planned for the 2027/28 financial year.

Key takeaways

• Boko said the Trans-Kalahari railway “had been delayed for over a decade and is now being accelerated following successful conclusion of both bankable feasibility studies this year.”
• The Chobe-Zambezi water scheme is being “optimized by integrating the Zambezi agrocommercial development project in Pandamatenga to strengthen food security,” he said.
• “Procurement of contractors for both projects will happen during the 2027 2028 financial year,” according to the speech (Parliament video).

What Boko said

“First, we look to the 1,600-kilometre Chobe-Zambezi water transfer scheme. This project is being optimized by integrating the Zambezi agrocommercial development project in Pandamatenga to strengthen food security,” Boko said.

“We next look to the 1,600-kilometre Trans-Kalahari railway project which had been delayed for over a decade and is now being accelerated following successful conclusion of both bankable feasibility studies this year.”

He tied the projects to industrialization: “we are actively building critical infrastructure that makes Botswana attractive for industrialization.”

Timelines and caveats

The SONA commitment is to start contractor procurement in FY2027/28, not that shovels are already in the ground on the full alignments. Capex envelopes, funding mix and tariff or water-allocation terms were not itemised in the passages reviewed. Until tenders are awarded, treat the projects as scheduled procurement milestones rather than completed assets.

Related diamond-sector ownership changes announced the same day are covered separately in Brimco’s De Beers stake story.

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