Major funding needed to restore railways

National Railways of
Zimbabwe (NRZ) has
embarked on an aggressive
funding campaign as part
of its efforts to restore
the railway operation to
a handling capacity of 18
million tonnes of freight per
annum – the same amount of
freight the railway operator
handled in the glory days of
1985.
“Currently, the entity is
operating at around 30-50%
of its capacity due to old and
outdated equipment as well
as inadequate rehabilitation
and maintenance of
infrastructure,” said Nixon
Kanyemba, public relations
manager for the Zimbabwe
Investment Authority
(ZIA) which is facilitating
investment into the railway
operation on behalf of NRZ.
He commented that a lack
of funding had led to the
ongoing deterioration, made
worse by the fact that freight
volumes kept decreasing in
line with a drop in operational
capacity. State-owned
newspaper, The Herald,
cited permanent secretary in
the Zimbabwean Ministry
of Transport, Munesu
Munodawafa, as saying that
the NRZ had seen a decrease
in volumes from 9.6 million
tonnes in 2000 to a paltry 3.7
million tonnes in 2014.
Kanyemba told FTW: “At
this stage we are looking for
a US$274-million buildoperate-
transfer (BOT)
investment.”
A funding grant from the
South African Development
Bank last year enabled
NRZ to contract global
infrastructure development
consultants, CPCS Transcom
Limited, to assist with its
recapitalisation programme.
This includes looking at
private sector participation
agreements and how the
various models should be
structured.