NRZ attracts more investors as Government casts net wider

Source: NRZ attracts more investors as Government casts net wider – Sunday News July 24, 2016

Dumisani Nsingo/Dickson Mangena
Business Reporters
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has attracted a number of potential investors across the globe to partner it in resuscitating its operations, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo said the Government has cast its net wide in attracting a strategic partner for the country’s rail company.

The troubled parastatal is struggling to offset a legacy debt of about $144 million owed to various creditors and requires about $1,9 billion to fully recapitalise its operations.

“(The recapitalisation of) NRZ is a question of getting the right partner. We are talking to many companies. There are many countries that are interested but at this particular moment we have not zeroed in on anyone . . . ” said Dr Gumbo.

He said most companies in Europe and Asia had shown huge interest towards injecting capital into NRZ but the country’s narrow track gauge was a nagging factor to most of potential investors.

In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails.

All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, and in the earliest days of railways the selection of a proposed railway’s gauge was a key issue.

As the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network.

“You must understand there is an issue of gauge. We are using the narrow gauge. Some countries, whom we are talking to like India have a wider gauge and that’s not what (Southern African Development Community) Sadc wants.

“So we are talking to many countries to come in. We have been talking to some Chinese companies, we have been talking to some Egyptian companies but it takes time to say now we are coming. They should also do their feasibility studies so that they can tell where they are going to get their money when they invest into the railway system,” said Dr Gumbo.

He said there was a need to revitalise most of the country’s railway system as it has been destroyed mostly due to acts of vandalism.

“We need more wagons and locomotives because the old ones are aged, they get worn out with age but we don’t have the money to buy new ones, our industry has collapsed so there is no work which NRZ is doing,” Dr Gumbo said.

Meanwhile, Dr Gumbo said his ministry was stepping up efforts to get into more Built Operate and Transfer and tender projects to fund road rehabilitation programmes.

As such he called on the private sector to come on board and help in road infrastructure development.

“We are embarking on two programmes, extensive (BOTs) and tender system, and an improved fund management. The Government is there to facilitate, if you come together, as a company or co-operative and we assess your capacity, there is nothing to stop you from participating,” he said.

Dr Gumbo said, because Treasury had no capacity to rehabilitate the roads, it was therefore venturing into partnerships with the private sector.

He said deals for the rehabilitation of the Beitbridge-Bulawayo Road and Harare-Chirundu Road were now at an advanced stage and concrete announcements will be made soon.

Zimbabwe National Roads Administration board chairman Mr Albert Mugabe said an improved transport system will help in fulfilling projects in the country’s economic blue-print, Zim Asset.

“Transport is one of the nine key sectors of Zim Asset and we are also adopting section seven of the 10-point plan, which talks about joint ventures,” said Mr Mugabe.