Regional economy demands sustainable rail system

Kevin Mayhew THE CONCESSIONING of the southern region railway system must find a solution to shortages and operational elements or the regional economy – with a bright future on the horizon – will suffer. Chief executive officer of Ndola-based VS Cargo Management Services, Alessandra Valenza, said that she understood that privatisation of the railway network was inevitable, but running it along business lines had removed some of the flexibility, reliability and safety of the entire system. “Under the old system operations were decided upon at an inter-government level, but now it is based on individual business principles which has meant disruptions and shortages that cannot be easily addressed to meet current demands as the copper and agricultural sectors expand,” she says. Areas of concern are shortages of rolling stock and pulling units. They have introduced security escorts on rail trucks to try to protect more valuable cargoes. A major operator into the Democratic Republic of Congo, her company experienced a tough past 12 months. However it remains the dominant Zambian player for moving mineral concentrates from the DRC’s Lubumbashi, Likasi and Kolwezi into Dar-es-Salaam where it has offices and it has become a major force in de-stuffing incoming containers’ contents into box wagons which they source. “Our focus is to generate the maximum cargo through the Tazara corridor for both imports and exports,” she concluded.