Chronicle EditorGolden Sibanda Senior Business Reporter—
National Railways of Zimbabwe could earn over $2,1 billion, if Government proceeded with plans to outlaw bulk transportation of goods by road, which it could use to recapitalise operations, a parliamentary official has said.Transport, Communication and Infrastructure Development Minister Joram Gumbo said early this month that Government would come up with a law to ban bulk transportation of goods by road; which he said would protect NRZ.
Such a policy would allow bulk transportation only by rail with NRZ managing just 3,4 million tonnes since January this year against capacity of 30 million tonnes a year
This comes as Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said last week that a comprehensive capitalisation programme for the rail carrier has remained elusive.
Parliamentary Portfolio committee on transport and infrastructure chairman and Chegutu West Constituency Member of Parliament Dexter Nduna said banning bulk transportation of goods by road could help in raising funds to recapitalise NRZ.
MP Nduna said this while commenting on possible interventions for effective domestic resource mobilisation strategies Government could pursue following President Mugabe’s State of the Nation Address and Minister Chinamasa’s 2017 National Budget.
Management at NRZ say the Government owned rail carrier requires about $653 million in the short to medium term period to modernise its equipment, acquire new technologies and clear outstanding debts.
“A statutory instrument that outlaws movement of bulky goods by road and instead allow bulky transportation by rail would help rejuvenate NRZ and boost its movement of Cargo,” Mr Nduna said.
If that legal instrument was introduced, the parliamentarian said, the national rail carrier would become the sole authorised carrier of bulky cargo, including 700 000 tonnes of drought mitigation grain. This alone, the transport and infrastructure parliamentary committee chairperson said, would earn NRZ an estimated $200 million in revenue, representing a third of its recapitalisation needs of $653 million.
He also said Government’s decision to ban raw chrome exports resulted in accumulation of 30 million tonnes of raw chrome, which would earn NRZ $2,1 billion in revenue, if bulk road transportation of goods was outlawed. But Mr Nduna said given inefficiencies at the rail company, revenue inflows of over $1 billion would be acceptable and go a long way in easing is financial distress.
“That is using what we have got to get want we need.”
“Government should outlaw the bulky movement of goods by road, that decision will also elongate the shelf life of our roads.”
Commenting on the Beitbridge/Chirundu road dualisation project, for which transport minister Jorum Gumbo signed a $984 million deal with Swiss firm Geiger International, Mr Nduna said it was commendable that 40 percent of contracts will go to local firms.
The MP said public private partnerships, as is the case with the Beitbridge-Chirundu road dualisation projected be executed under a build, operate and transfer arrangement, was the way to go for such projects.
Addressing Zimbabwe’s road infrastructure funding needs, he said, required $20 billion, yet the Zimbabwe National Road Authority was only capable of raising $200 million annually.
To complement this, he said city councils and local authorities should direct revenue from road services and bill board advertising to maintenance and construction of roads.
The MP also said Zimbabwe’s highly skilled pool of engineers registered and certified by Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers should actively partake in monitoring mega infrastructure projects such as Beitbridge/Chirundu road dualisation.
Mr Nduna said Government should also leverage its world class infrastructure, the Victoria Falls International Airport revamped and expanded at a total cost of $150 million, as a regional air transport hub, to generate revenue for the fiscus.
He said Government could shore up inflows to the fiscus through integration of Government’s transport management systems for key institutions such as ZINARA, Zimra, VID and RMT through computerisation of their operations. Mr Nduna said this would curb corruption and fraud.
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