WINDHOEK, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The transport ministers of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa gathered here at the weekend to brainstorm on a Trans-Kalahari Rail Line that will cost 1.4 billion U. S. dollars, according to a joint communique released on Sunday.

The three ministers who met at a hotel in Windhoek on Friday were Frank J. Ramsden, Botswana's minister of transport and communications; Helmut K. Angula, the Namibian minister of works and transport; and Sibusiso Ndebele, South Africa's minister of transport.

In the communique, the three ministers said the trans-Kalahari Railway Line Project concept started almost a century ago and that today there is no optimal railway line connection between the three countries.

The meeting received presentations from three companies interested in the Trans-Kalahari Railway development and agreed to await the outcome of the pre-fesibility study scheduled for May 2010.

A call for expression of interest will be published to allow bidders to compete in accordance with the best international practice.

"The meeting appreciated the initiates taken by the private sector and assured our governments continued commitment to private sector involvement in the project," they declared in the document.

The proposed railway line will be used for the transportation of coal from mines that are envisaged in Namibia and Botswana among other bulk cargo.

The development of the proposed railway project will be implemented through the Spatial Development Initiatives. The railway project will link Walvis Bay in Namibia through Botswana to the industrialized Gauteng Region in South Africa).

This project will offer a major railway transport alternative to trans-Atlantic markets for Gauteng and Gaborone in Botswana, increase regional integration and economic growth for the three SADC countries and improve southern African traffic.