NRZ, Turkish firm sign MoU

Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Chronicle Reporter
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi aimed at modernising and rehabilitating the country’s railway infrastructure.

In a statement, NRZ acting public relations manager Mr Martin Banda said NRZ officials and representatives from Yapi Merkezi were assessing the country’s railway infrastructure as part of an assessment exercise.

He said after assessing the infrastructure, Yapi Merkezi will give feedback on the amount they will invest and the works to be done in rehabilitating the railway infrastructure.

“The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) is hosting a delegation from Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi. The delegation arrived in the country on Tuesday. The officials from Yapi Merkezi are using the visit to assess the state of NRZ infrastructure. The tour is as follow-up to a visit by NRZ board members and senior management to Turkey in June this year where NRZ and Yapi Merkezi signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate in the modernisation and rehabilitation of the country’s railway infrastructure,” he said.

“The visit by the Yapi Merkezi team will give the delegation a first-hand appreciation of the status of the NRZ infrastructure as well as NRZ short-medium-long-term business and strategic plans. It will also provide an opportunity for the visitors to inform the NRZ and the Government of Zimbabwe about their organisation, its business interests, capabilities and expectations.”

Mr Banda said during the week-long tour, Yapi Merkezi officials will meet senior Government officials, the NRZ board and management. He said the team will undertake on the spot inspection of the railway line between Harare and Machipanda and also on the Harare to Dabuka line.

He said the partnership was part of efforts by NRZ to recapitalise the company and revive the country’s railway infrastructure. Mr Banda said the partnership might also result in the introduction of state-of-the-art trains courtesy of Yapi Merkezi. He said after touring railway infrastructure in the country, NRZ officials and their partners will travel to Tanzania to tour some of works which had been done by the Turkish company in the country.

In an interview, Mr Banda said the country was also engaging Russia and Indonesia on modernisation and rehabilitation of railway infrastructure in the country. He said the country’s railway infrastructure needs serious attention as it was in a poor state. He said NRZ was doing maintenance works periodically but some of the infrastructure needed to be replaced.

“Railway lines also need to be maintained as they wear and tear and develop potholes. We perform maintenance works and patrols where maintenance teams inspect the rails. The rails have outlived their lifespan and need to be replaced. The rails deteriorate with time and that means they would have lost the capacity to withstand the load of trains and the goods,” he said.

Mr Banda said vandalism was also a threat to the country’s railway infrastructure as some people remove the rails to manufacture various products.

He said while commuter trains have been introduced in Harare and the service will go to other cities, they were still waiting for the go-ahead from Government to re-introduce inter-city trains. Mr Banda said in the meantime, NRZ has been rehabilitating some of its coaches.

Yapi Merkezi is an international privately-owned contracting company, specialising in rail engineering, design, manufacture and construction. The company also has experience in electrification, signalling and telecommunication systems.