Zimbabwe is in talks with China Railway Group Ltd. to help modernise the state-owned National Railways of Zimbabwe.
‘We believe we can utilise their expertise and financial capacity to improve the NRZ,’ said Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube in an interview at the weekend. ‘It needs an upgrade of fixed equipment as well as rolling stock and signalling.’ Zimbabwe has lagged behind in improving the railways of neighbouring countries, including Mozambique and Zambia, and wants to catch up, he said.
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube
The NRZ and China Railway have signed a memorandum of understanding to start studying the project and a feasibility report is due by the end of June. ‘We expect the agreement between NRZ and China Rail to be announced at the next China-Africa Forum, to be held around August and September,’ said Ncube.
China Rail already has a large presence in the region. In the 1970s, it built the 1,860 kilometre (1,156 mile) railway line linking Zambia’s copper heartland to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam in neighbouring Tanzania. More recently, it built the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway in Ethiopia, according to information on its website.
Zimbabwe Railways estimates that it needs around 533 million dollars for general refurbishment, even with the decrease in freight volumes. The NRZ transports about 3 million tonnes a year, compared to peak volumes of 5 million, said spokesman Andrew Kunambura.
O.Económico
