Namibia: It was the Minister of Works and Transport, Veikko Nekundi, who announced the cancellation of the direct purchase from the US rolling stock manufacturer. Twenty-three locomotives were to be purchased for NAD 1.7 bln ($95 mln).
According to TransNamib chairman Theofelus Mberirua, the cancellation of the Wabtec order is prompted by recent global geopolitical developments, as well as the risk of unilateral sanctions from part of the Donald Trump administration, rising tariffs, which already have reached 21%, and potential trade wars with the USA. Mr. Nekundi said it would be too risky to buy all the locomotives from a single manufacturer without competition.
The diesel locomotives were purchased last autumn by the Central Procurement Board of Namibia for freight operator TransNamib. The board said it chose to purchase the vehicles directly from Wabtec because most diesel locomotives in the country’s locomotive fleet were manufactured by GE Transportation (acquired by Wabtec in 2019), and these have proven their reliability over more than 50 years of operation.
Despite the cancellation, the scandal was not averted, as the tender was criticised in Namibia as being corrupt. Both the Board and TransNamib will now have to organise a new tender, open to several producers.
