Swaziland Plans Canal to the Indian Ocean
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
September 7, 2015
The Government of Swaziland, despite being entirely landlocked, has backed a plan to build a channel to the Indian Ocean, the latest in the 21st century’s epic round of global canal construction.
Officials in Swaziland has confirmed the plans to build inland port and a canal linking it to the sea which would rival those in Panama and Suez.
The project is not a hoax said Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Trade Gideon Dlamini. The minister admitted that the canal would be three times longer than originally announced. He says the authorities in the kingdom are fully behind the scheme and they are giving it undivided support.
He also also said the undertaking was not to be a private project, as was also first believed, but would be done in partnership with the government of the landlocked country.
The Times reported him saying, ‘At government level, we are fully behind the project and we are giving it undivided support. The project owners had done presentations to Cabinet and we interrogated it and found that it is a wonderful one.
The plan is to build a 26-kilometre canal from the Mozambican sea to Mlawula, where the port will be constructed on 15 to 20 hectares of land.
Media in Swaziland report it will cost an estimated E30 billion (US$3 billion).
Swaziland is ruled by King Mswati who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch. Political parties are banned from taking part in elections and the King appoints members of the government.
