Cash-strapped BR expects P25m loss
Lewanika Timothy - Laone Choeunyane | Monday December 1, 2025 10:44
The expected loss follows years of maintenance budget backlogs, including low volumes of freight and cargo transport.
Last year, BR posted a P90 million loss as its financial woes deepened. The entity attributed the losses to “financial pressures and governance irregularities that have festered over the years”.
Addressing journalists in Gaborone this week, BR CEO, Dominic Ntwaagae, revealed that whilst the company was in the red, this year’s P25 million expected loss was an improvement from last year’s P90 million.
“Last year, BR lost P90 million, and we see the loss improving this year to around P25 million. “The improvement in losses is the result of cost containment measures and an improvement in business management practices,” he said.
BR is responsible for the below and above-rail operations in Botswana. Below rail focuses on providing fixed railway infrastructure, such as railway lines and communication devices, whilst above rail focuses on the provision of locomotives and rolling stock services.
According to BR management, the company has been focusing solely on freight service, with the main customers being bulk-good transporters such as mines. Over the years, however, BR has been failing to optimally transport bulk goods due to dilapidated locomotives and wagons left unserviced.
“Wagons need to be overhauled every 10 years, and that is a budget spanning to millions of pula, but very critical for ensuring the continued use of the wagons to be able to service our customers. We have failed to continue to service most of our customers due to dilapidated wagons and worn-out locomotives,” the CEO added.
In the past, soda ash miner Botash has complained about the lack of transport capacity at Botswana Railways, with the latter failing to meet the capacity demand of transporting over 300,000 tonnes of soda ash per annum.
The two entities have reportedly engaged in talks on the situation. “We have been able to enter a commercial agreement with Botash that will help us to be able to deliver swiftly and increase our capacity,” Ntwaagae said.
Botash’s production capacity for soda ash is 300,000 tonnes per annum, but at the moment, the mine delivers approximately 280,000 tonnes per annum, which is transported by rail and trucks due to the dwindling capacity of rail transport. Production capacity for salt is 650,000 tonnes per annum, which includes three variants: chemical-grade salt, food-grade coarse salt and food-grade fine salt.