The Sunday News
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE Government has said the recapitalisation of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) as a carrier of bulk goods remains one of its priorities as its incapacity has seen an increase in the number of haulage trucks on the country’s highways which is damaging the road infrastructure, increasing congestion and accidents.
Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Monitoring Implementation of Government Programmes Dr Joram Gumbo said haulage trucks have taken over the work that was supposed to be done by NRZ, saying that was justification for the government to continue supporting efforts by the NRZ to recapitalize.
He said this during a tour of rehabilitation of locomotives, wagons, coaches, houses and offices at the NRZ workshops in Bulawayo on Thursday.
“The volume of trucks on our roads has increased exponentially over the years and has brought with it many challenges. The rapid increase in road freight is a cause for concern because of the damage to our roads, congestion and rising accident rates.
These problems are all in part due to the high percentage of goods being transported by road instead of rail. It is against this background that Government has taken deliberate efforts to support efforts being made by the NRZ to re-equip and re-capitalise,” said Dr Gumbo.
As part of the NRZ’s long-term strategy it is looking forward to putting in place a modern rail system in line with the latest international trends
Dr Gumbo said Government has since pledged $2 billion towards the NRZ cause.
“Government continues to support your efforts to re-equip and re-capitalise the organisation in order to give you a competitive advantage. In this regard, $2 billion has been pledged to fund the refurbishment and rehabilitation of NRZ infrastructure. It is our hope that upon completion, your project should assist in relieving pressure on our road network,” said Dr Gumbo.
The increase in trucks has brought about an array of challenges with the destruction of roads being the major problem. Roads like the Victoria Falls – Bulawayo highway has been one of the most affected. The collapse in the railway system has seen most of the coal mined in Hwange being transported by road using haulage trucks.
While Government has taken significant strides to re-equip the national railway company, vandalism of infrastructure remains a cancer impeding the parastatal’s growth.
“I also need to mention that Government continues to receive the depressing news of the vandalism of NRZ infrastructure. It is our expectation that you will adopt innovative and ICT based solutions in order to decisively address this problem,” said Dr Gumbo.
NRZ has a target to refurbish four mainline, five shunt locomotives and 940 wagons. The entity needs 122 locomotives, 6130 wagons and 170 coaches to operate optimally. The $2 billion pledge is expected to go a long way in achieving the target. @nyeve14
