THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) will get a US$615 million boost to revamp the country’s railway network, a Cabinet minister has said.
Of the amount, US$500 million will come from China International Group and US$115 million from Afreximbank, Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Felix Mhona said.
He revealed the development while responding to questions in the Senate recently, adding that the funds would be used to revamp the country’s 2 700-kilometre railway network.
He said the project would also include upgrading bends and acquiring new rolling stock — wagons and locomotives.
“We have engaged a number of players in the category and recently, the chairman of China Railway International Group was in the country where we are going to avail US$500 million towards the resuscitation of the railway line,”Mhona said.
He said the revitalised railway line would enhance regional connectivity linking Zimbabwe with neighbouring countries such as Zambia, DRC, Mozambique or South Africa.
“We are saying, having such a network will then enable the economy to perform where we are now going to be having, and we have seen the mushrooming and vibrancy of our mining sector so that the minerals will now be channelled towards the railway line.
“These are initiatives to make sure that we resuscitate our NRZ and I want to assure this august Senate that the initiatives that we are pursuing are just in the near future,” Mhona said.
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He said private players had already begun partnering NRZ in providing rolling stock and utilising the railway line, with the government deducting usage fees.
“They are providing rolling stock and we then deduct from the usage of our railway line and we continue pursuing that,” he said.
Mhona assured the Senate that these initiatives are nearing fruition, with due diligence processes already completed for the Afrexim Bank facility.
In 2018, the NRZ signed a deal with a consortium of Zimbabweans in the diaspora who undertook to inject about US$400 million to revive the rail operator before the deal flopped.
