adminTHE Government has inched closer to securing a $750 million loan facility from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) to resuscitate the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), a Cabinet Minister has said.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Dr Obert Mpofu told Sunday News last week that negotiations with the South Africa-based financial institution were now at the penultimate stage.
Dr Mpofu said once secured, the $750 million will be channelled towards total rehabilitation of the country’s railway line network and locomotives, something he, however, said would continue as an ongoing exercise.
“We have done the hardest part of the deal. Most of the difficult hurdles in the deal have been passed now. We are now in the final stage of the negotiations and anytime from now the deal can be concluded. There are just a few matters that need to be looked at before we call it a done deal,” he said.
Dr Mpofu said the Government was aware of the numerous challenges bedevilling NRZ and was working to ensure that the parastatal gets back on its feet again.
The NRZ has been blighted with a multitude of problems and has in the last few years been operating at minimal capacity, struggling to move its cargo due to obsolete equipment.
Workers at the parastatal have over the years intermittently gone on strikes protesting against non-payment of salaries and at one point the workers were joined by their spouses in demonstrations against their employer.
Media reports last week suggested that NRZ workers had downed tools after going for nine months without salaries, with officials at the parastatal reportedly saying there was no money to pay workers.
The workers allege that their employer has been paying them a paltry 20 percent of their salaries, between $40 and $80 monthly, depending on grades for the past nine months.
Dr Mpofu said once funding is secured all the problems plaguing NRZ would cease to exist.
“We are aware of the challenges being faced by NRZ and we are frantically dealing with them. All those problems, be they technical or human resources, the ultimate solution is capitalisation. The problems can only be addressed with enough funding, which is not available right now.
“Once we finalise the loan deal and the funding is availed, all those challenges will be a thing of the past and we are working frantically to ensure that happens,” said Dr Mpofu.
Last year Members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development heard that about $50 million was needed to rehabilitate the 470km rail track between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls which was described as a death trap due to vandalism.
Three train derailments on the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls line were recorded last year, one of them claiming the life of a tourist and injuring 20 in the process.
NRZ is transporting six million tonnes of goods per annum, against a capacity of 80 million tonnes. This has been attributed to a depressed market and reduced capacity.
In 2013, the parastatal moved an estimated 3,6 million tonnes of goods against a target of six million tonnes. During its peak NRZ moved close to 20 million tonnes of goods annually.
The parastatal is reportedly struggling to offset a $144 million debt dating back to 2009 when the country adopted the multi-currency system.
Online Reporter