E350M PAYOUT FOR AFFECTED COMPANIES, HOUSEHOLDS

MBABANE – It will be raining money.  Approximately E350 million will be paid out to companies, estates and 235 households to give way for the proposed E17 billion Rail Link to connect between Lothair (South Africa) and Sidvokodvo.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport in the annual performance report dated February 2018 reported that the rail link would require the 146 kilometre (km) 122 hectares of Title Deed Land (TDL) and 590 hectares of Swazi Nation Land (SNL) for the railway line servitude.

Under the Railway Department, the ministry reported that there were two types of land acquisitions being undertaken, each requiring different approaches and strategies. It was stated that a total of eight land parcels had been affected under TDL and ‘in principle agreements’ had been reached with at least six of them.

“According to a valuation exercise undertaken in 2015, total compensation costs are estimated at E15 million,” reads the report in part.
The companies to be paid out include Old Mutual, Tisuka TakaNgwane and Montigny Investments. Others under the TDL land acquisition include; the De Souza family, Mndzebele family, estate late Obed Dlamini and Roy Fanourakis.

It was, however, mentioned that Montigny was to be compensated for tree plantations only as the land owned by Tibiyo TakaNgwane who had informed the project that His Majesty King gave his consent to the use of the land for project purposes.
It was also mentioned that a total of 235 households were affected on SNL of which 57 would have affected structures relocated within existing households which were evaluated and compensation values determined for each affected structure (house, pit latrines, kraal, chicken coup and fences among other things).

The ministry disclosed that progress achieved on SNL included finalising the list of affected households for purposes of issuing a government gazette.
“The total compensation cost is estimated at E320 million,” it was projected.

Further, it was disclosed that the grave allocation service provider, Mbabane Burial Society, had presented their completion report which had been accepted by Swaziland Railway.
The service provider also submitted their final account of E1.5 million which was being processed.

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