Chronicle Editor
Senior Business Writer
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is intensifying its estate verification exercise, giving individuals and entities occupying or possessing properties registered under NRZ without a valid lease agreement or authorised transfer, 30 days to regularise.
The parastatal launched a nationwide blitz to recover over US$2,3 million owed by the leaseholders. The estate verification exercise aims to ensure proper documentation and legal compliance for all NRZ properties.
NRZ is the country’s biggest private land owner and boasts numerous properties under its real estate portfolio, with the capacity to generate at least US$1 million per month in rentals.
The company also owns thousands of hectares of developed commercial stands, undeveloped commercial bays and land with supermarkets and safari farms.
Its real estate portfolio is worth a staggering US$300 million, but over the years the portfolio has been underutilised.
Therefore, it has embarked on a process to address the situation including reclaiming some of the parastatal’s land and buildings that had been leased out and sublet to third-party clients yet the rail operator was realising very little income in return.
Some of the company’s properties had also been illegally occupied by land barons, who paid nothing to the company.
In a notice, NRZ said all individuals and entities occupying or possessing properties registered under the name of NRZ without a valid lease agreement or authorized transfer, to urgently contact NRZ offices in Harare and Bulawayo within 30 days of this notice, for regularization.
“Occupants or possessors of NRZ properties without valid lease agreements or authorized transfers must visit NRZ offices in Harare and Bulawayo within 30 days for regularization. Failure to comply within the specified time-frame may result in legal actions taken by NRZ to address unauthorized occupation,” reads part of the notice.
In September last year, Chronicle reported that NRZ embarked on a drive to recover vast swathes of its land along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge line from illegal occupants.
The areas which were occupied by the settlers include Esigodini, West Nicholson and Gwanda among others where people took advantage of the gap that existed when private railway company, Bulawayo-Beitbridge Railways (BBR) was granted authority to run the line as a private concession in the late 1990s.
An investigation team set up by the NRZ management also discovered that these barons were pocketing up to US$2 000 per month from leasing out NRZ properties without paying anything to the administration.
A team was then sent on the ground to issue leases to those occupying the land.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter