Labour issue clinches Zambia Railways concession deal

Anna Cox
THE NEW Limpopo Property Investments (NLPI)-Spoornet consortium has been awarded a $200 million concession to operate and restructure the almost 100-year old, state-owned railway company, Zambia Railways.
The consortium won the bid after giving assurances that it would retain 60% of the current 1600 strong workforce. A total of 400 workers is expected to be retrenched during the restructuring process of the new company.
NLPI will be the major shareholder with Spoornet a minority shareholder.
All the Zambia Railways equipment and properties will remain under government control, but will be used by the new
consortium for its operations.
NLPI beat the Canadian National Railways Corporation to secure the
20 year contract.