Refit of Zambian Railways

It has only been a few months since Prof Clive Chirwa was appointed the managing director of the Zambian Railways Corp, and now he has come out with an announcement of an extremely ambitious plan to totally refit the rail system there in just three years. A few other facts jumped out at me from this announcement as being quite noteworthy:

- the timeframes are very short
- he proposes to use local Zambian labour and materials rather than foreign (particularly Chinese) workers as has been the case with some other recent infrastructure projects
- the proposal is for the project to make extensive use of private sector project financing

If he succeeds, the plan will have a massively positive impact on the economy of Zambia through job creation and improved links between resources and markets, and would also have solid environmental benefits through a major reduction on the current reliance on heavy truck transport and fossil fuels (new system to be electrified).

Read the full article here on Times of Zambia or allAfrica.com

But, is it too good to be true? Leave your comments here and let us know your thoughts!
(note - comments need to be approved by Fourth Watch before publishing and will appear within a day - unfortunately I must limit spam posts this way)

Fourth Watch: The Name

What does our name mean?

At the surface level, the term Fourth Watch is a reference to the Roman army's time-keeping system which divided the nightly duties for watchmen into four shifts, or "watches". The fourth watch was the last one of the night and typically ended with the watchman witnessing the approaching dawn. The fourth watch is therefore a duty which is filled with progressively increasing optimism - the evidence of the end of the shift approaching.  Already in the middle of the fourth watch the watchman can see the evidence that dawn is coming and eagerly looks forward to the beautiful colours that will soon fill the sky and begins to hear the singing of birds that share this joy. It is a name that captures our hope and optimism that a better future is approaching.

The fourth watch is just beginning. Poverty and injustice are rampant around the world, and many investors, corporations, and governments have turned a blind eye towards environmental damage caused by their activities. We see light on the horizon, however. The United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investing are gaining traction among the world’s largest institutional investors, and impact investing is growing at an exponential rate. We are very excited to be a part of what we believe is a turning point in the history of global economic systems!