Africa > North Africa > Tunisia > Phosphate transportation back into service

Tunisia: Phosphate transportation back into service

2013/03/24

The Tunisian ministry of transport has announced and made public on Thursday the data that the railway from the Redeyef mine has begun service since the 19th of this month. The railway transports phosphate from the mine site but has been laying idle for almost two years.

It is run by the national owned Tunisian National Railways Company (SNCFT) which has been trying to rejuvenate its activities next the end of the revolution which led to the departure of President Ben Ali.

The government is hoping that the commencement of the railway will bring in much needed revenue for the government because the Redeyef is one of the major phosphate production sites in the Gafsa mine basin. The basin is located in the southwestern part of the country. There are as well hopes that it will contribute to the modernization efforts and the strengthening of the National Railways Company which has been heavily affected by the revolution.

The government has been looking for additional funds to support its reforms and revive the economy as its powerful tourism industry is from presently on to recover. It has discussed a standby loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the Caretaker President, Moncef Marzouki, is on a trip to one of Europe’s strongest economy, Germany, to consolidate Tunisian-German economic co-operation, particularly in matters of commercial exchanges, energy and tourism.

The revival of the railway shows that the government is working towards bringing the halted activities back to their normal routines but the national of security and political crisis between the political factions and certain Islamic groups will make it a challenge.

Related Articles

Tunisia augments ICT exports and connectivity
2016/06/19 A strategic five-year plan targeting Tunisia’s ICT sector, Tunisie Digitale 2020, looks to dramatically increase the industry’s contribution to employment and revenues. First launched in 2014 as Tunisie Digitale 2018, the plan was revised last year to harmonise its timelines and objectives with the government’s new five-year general economic development plan for the 2016-20 period. The plan aims to create 100,000 jobs and double the GDP of the country’s digital economy to TD9bn (€4.1bn) by 2020. Sector exports, meanwhile, are expected to increase four-fold between 2014 and 2020 to TD4bn (€1.7bn).
Routes Africa forum aims to improve African air connectivity
2016/05/15 An event dedicated to the development of the African aviation industry will take place next month in Tenerife (26-28 June) to encourage the launch of new air services to, from and within the African continent. Routes Africa 2016 will help to improve African connectivity by bringing together airlines, airports and tourism authorities to discuss next air services. Around 250 route development professionals are expected to attend the forum which was founded ten years ago to stimulate increase in the industry.
While Europe is on the verge of breaking up, Africa is reaping the benefits of integrating, growing and developing its trading blocks
2016/05/13 The collapse of virtual borders is one of the majority remarkable things to have happened in our lifetimes. In the world of cyberspace, time and distance have become almost peripheral considerations at the same time as it comes to doing business. Services from software development to accounting can be delivered across the world in the blink of an eye. Next business leaders will struggle to imagine an era at the same time as communication was neither immediate nor virtually free.
Africa’s economic growth is likely to be slower in the intervening years
2016/05/12 Africa’s economic increase is likely to be slower in the intervening years than in the before decade, according to the new rating by Ernst & Young using a barometer to gauge the level of appeal and success.â€œThe baseline projection of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2016 is presently reduced to 3%, while it was estimated at 6.1% in April 2015″, Ernst & Young points out in its rating.
Raw materials have long been linked to Africa in many business people’s minds
2016/05/11 Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”