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Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT is set to revamp the 10-kilometre railway stretch from Mutare to Forbes Border Post to increase the carriage of goods by a safer and reliable railway transport and stimulate trade between the two countries.
This was said by Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck Mugadza, during a tour of the railway line to get a first-hand account of the challenges being faced by National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) in maintaining the curvy railway line.
The tour observed that the railway line is in a state of neglect, leading to equipment problems and reduced service.
Shockingly, sections of the railway line were buried under debris due to heavy dumping of eroded soil.
Poaching of concrete stones is also rampant along the stretch, while the indiscriminate cutting down of trees is fuelling landslides and deposition of huge volumes of soil along the railway line.
Minister Mugadza said the effects of the demise of the railway line are, not only being felt by businesses that use rail transport to ferry their raw materials, but also ordinary citizens, smallholder farmers, pensioners, and railway communities, whose livelihoods have been severely affected.
He said the stretch will be revamped to match the standards already set in Mozambique which has upgraded its system.
Last month, President Mnangagwa joined his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi to officially commission the 300-kilometre Machipanda railway line, which stretches from Beira Port to Machipanda Border Post.
The US$200 million project is expected to increase freight volumes on the line from the current 600 000 tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes in the first 12 months.
Minister Mugadza said the railway infrastructure project has enormous pulling power for Government, given its potential to link cities, open up economic opportunities for export ports and reducing the cost of transporting goods and people, while also enabling the public to access opportunities for work and trade.
“Intra-regional trade is one of Government’s top priorities, and exports of industrial goods to the neighbouring country will grow much faster and play a more effective role in the long-term development of our country.
“The rebuilding of the railroad connecting Zimbabwe and Mozambique to the Beira Corridor is expected to stimulate economic activity between the two sister republics. Rail transport is a good solution for the reduction of road congestion along the Forbes Border Post route during peak hours. A better solution is to ensure this link railway is in good condition deck and make sure this is stopped as a matter of urgency to safeguard the infrastructure,” he said.
Minister Mugadza said Zimbabwe and Mozambique are working on a proposal to transform customs services at Forbes Border Post by fast-tracking its expansion and introduce the one-stop-border concept to eradicate inefficiencies currently compromising trade competitiveness between the two republics.
Forbes Border Post, a getaway to the Beira Corridor, is often grid-locked with inefficient customs operations which have a negative impact on trade as the bottlenecks result in congestion-induced delays and long transit times.
The border, which is a major economic link between Harare and Beira,can be very busy as the demand for service outweighs current capacity.
The border is characterised by very long queues of heavily laden trucks on either side of the border, which often breeds corruption and illegal entries along the porous border.
“We are expecting Mozambican trains to ply up to Mutare, and this will help decongest the border. It is now the talk of the town that there is congestion at the border. The truckloads have multiplied to an unimaginable proportion, which is a positive thing to us because it means more trade.
“However, the problem is now that the infrastructure we have needs to be improved, so we are happy that while a new border will be put up very soon, the railway system is being revamped and we will have more goods carried by rail than by road. This will automatically reduce the number of trucks and decongest the border post. We have also directed that the border should operate for 24 hours,” he said.
NRZ official, Mr Andrew Bakasa said the parastatal has acquired modern locomotives and wagons from India.
He said the process takes about 18 months, meaning they will be delivered mid next year.
Mr Bakasa said plans are afoot to revamp the railway line to improve trafficability by Mozambicans trains.
Online Reporter