“The NRZ is in desperate need of a capital injection. It should seek partnership with railway companies outside the country such as the South African Railways,” Robertson said.
He said such a partnership would not only be beneficial for NRZ but would also be strategic to the South African company.
“The success of the South African Railways would be tied to the success of NRZ because of the links it would provide to regional countries further north. They need more linkages and we need an extension. The money required to revive NRZ is beyond Zimbabwe’s reach at the moment,” Robertson said.
He said first the government would need to privatise the local railway operator to make it attractive to foreign partners. Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce president, Hlanganiso Matangaidze, said the NRZ issue was a huge concern for local businesses. “The issue of NRZ revolves around the issue of recapitalisation. We are planning on having a symposium so that we can be clear about the problems at NRZ. There is the issue of locomotives and the issue of its labour force. Workers have gone for too long without pay,” he said.
Matangaidze said last year the chamber had organised a similar symposium for the national carrier, Air Zimbabwe, and many of the recommendations they came up with had been adopted in the airline’s current turnaround strategy.
“This meeting is long overdue but it will certainly be held during the course of this year,” he said.
The NRZ last year said that in order to meet its short to medium plans it required a total of $400 million.
Post published in: News