THE Transport Parliamentary Portfolio Committee has recommended that government must take over the $90 million National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) debt to ensure the recovery of the struggling parastatal.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
Committee chairperson Dexter Nduna told Parliament on Tuesday that it was imperative for the parastatal to be recapitalised with $400 million and through joint venture partnerships.
He was contributing to debate on a motion on the First Report of the Committee on the inquiry into the NRZ turnaround strategy.
“As part of their 2017 key strategies, NRZ management recommended reduction of salaries to revenue ratio from the current 34% to 62% in 2017 as cost-cutting measures in order to improve revenue,” Nduna said.
“The committee recommends that government must take over and guarantee the debt at NRZ owed to employees to guarantee investment.”
Nduna urged the government to also expedite legislation which will ensure that heavy loads are carried by rail instead of by road to increase NRZ revenue.
“In 2017 the projections by the NRZ board are to transport 3,5 million freight tonnes, an improvement from 2,7 million freight tonnes realised in 2016. The passenger target is to move 387 000 passengers against 287 000 passengers transported in 2016.”
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NRZ was projecting to raise $86 million from passengers and freight, and if achieved it will be a 32% increase from $66 million in 2016.
Nduna said NRZ had infrastructure deteriorated over the years, to the extent that now out of 7 153 wagons, 3 641 were decommissioned due to various defects.
“Out of 283 passenger coaches, only 108 are in use. A length of 255km out of 2 360km of rail is not working and is under restrictions, meaning that trains have to slow down to 10km per hour, causing delays in transportation of goods. The train control systems have been rendered dysfunctional due to vandalism,” he said.
The committee said the NRZ debt had now ballooned to $177 million.
