Online Reporter
Judith Phiri, [email protected]
A FIRM policy shift for heavy bulk freight to be moved from road to rail is critical for Zimbabwe to lower its national carbon footprint and enhancing logistical efficiency and public safety, the Mutapa Investment Fund has said.
Carbon footprint represents the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2), resulting from human activities.
These arise from various sources, including energy consumption, transportation, waste generation and manufacturing processes.
Globally, efforts to reduce carbon footprints have intensified, marked by a complex mix of rapid technological adoption and political challenges as emissions have reached record highs.
In a presentation to the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee in Bulawayo on Thursday, Mutapa Investment Fund deputy chief investment officer, Mr Ernest Denhere, said as they step up efforts for the revitalisation of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), they were cognisant of the national carbon footprint.
“We are currently witnessing a decisive policy shift. For too long, our national road network has carried a burden it was never designed to bear,” he said. “The migration of heavy bulk cargo onto our highways has resulted in accelerated road degradation, costing the fiscus hundreds of millions of dollars in premature rehabilitation.
“Our policy is firm, heavy bulk belongs on the railways. By moving freight back to the tracks, we are not just improving NRZ’s balance sheet, we are saving the nation’s ‘Bitumen Assets’” said Mr Denhere.
“A single freight train can remove up to 100 heavy-haul trucks from our roads, lowering the national carbon footprint and enhancing public safety.”
He said the transition to National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2) was clear that railways form the industrial circulatory system of the nation.
Mr Denhere said infrastructure was a critical enabler for NDS2 and their mandate was clear to achieve a structural transformation of the economy.
“High-performance infrastructure is not a luxury, it is the critical enabler. Our railways are the foundation upon which the pillars of mining, agriculture and manufacturing rest,” he said.
“As the shareholder, we view every dollar invested in these lines as a strategic down-payment on Zimbabwe’s sovereign competitiveness.”
Mr Denhere said the viability of the railways was underpinned by Zimbabwe’s vast mineral wealth with bulk commodities such as coal, chrome and lithium that provide the critical mass for rail with high export volumes.
“Zimbabwe is land-linked, not land-locked. Our success depends on the seamless integration of our railway with regional ports. This requires robust government-to-government engagements,” said Mr Denhere.
“With open access now a reality in South Africa, we are engaging at a G2G level to ensure our hook-and-haul operations with Transnet are synchronized, allowing for seamless transit to the ports of Durban and Richards Bay.”
Botswana and Mozambique are already strengthening ties to optimise the Beira and Maputo corridors as the efficiency of the “Port-Rail Interlink” was the only metric that matters to a global buyer.
He said NRZ was focused on scaling up capacity to move up to three million net tonnes this year from about 2.03 million in 2025.
“On the expansion phase we will be forging new greenfield corridors and integrating advanced intermodal logistics,” said Mr Denhere.
Last year NRZ throughput generated US$45 million in revenues but resulted in a net loss of US$11 million due to legacy equipment friction. The business fair value stands at US$2.5 billion, said Mr Denhere, adding that they were finalising a US$115 million Afreximbank Facility (Phase 1) to jumpstart rehabilitation as part of a broader $800 million requirement.
“We are also pioneering freight securitisation to leverage our long-term mining contracts as bankable collateral. Our expansion is highlighted by the Lions Den to Kafue Railway Project—a US$2.2 billion initiative that shortens the route to Beira by 800 kilometres,” he said.
“Simultaneously, we are planning the re-electrification of the Dabuka-Harare corridor, restoring the “electric backbone” commissioned in 1983 to drastically lower operational costs for our new industrial clusters like Dinson (Manhize).”
On strategic partnerships and dry ports, Mr Denhere said through partnerships with global giants like DP World, they were establishing Dry Ports at Lions Den, Rutenga and Beitbridge.
“By moving bulk freight back to the rails and strengthening our regional interlinks, we will restore the pride of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. The signals are green. Let’s move the nation forward.”
The NRZ is one of the state-owned enterprises under the Mutapa Investment Fund portfolio which had been relegated to the ‘corporate graveyards’ and is currently undergoing transformation for its revival.
Mutapa is the country’s sovereign wealth fund, established by an Act of Parliament. It is a strategic investment arm of the Government, which was capitalised with shares in selected state-owned enterprises and investments to transform, revive and strengthen the performance of these entities.
