THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) generated ZWL$29,4 million revenue in the first quarter of the year, ZWL$4 million short of its ZWL$33,4 million target, an official has said.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
NRZ spokesperson Nyasha Maravanyika told NewsDay that the parastatal performed well in terms of tonnages moved, but spiralling costs weighed down operations.
Operational costs were up to ZWL$38 million in the period under review.
“In terms of financials, we had budgeted financial cost of ZWL$6 745 687 as our costs to that budget that we had planned, but then the actual costs that then emanated from there were ZWL$38 million because of the volatility of the economy, the exchange rate and everything,” he said.
Maravanyika said they managed to move 600 000 tonnes of freight between January and March, 28 000 short of their target.
“Compared to last year, we managed 587 000 tonnes against a sourced business of 604 000, but then you find out that last year again we had targeted to move 627 000.”
“What hit us were the spiralling costs going up since January up to now. A stable economic environment would enable us to see the rewards of what we are doing, but looking at the capacity challenges that we have we feel that we performed well although with the volatility of the economy we are in deficit,” Maravanyika said.
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“The operational costs have been a big hindrance for us, but basically going forward in terms of business and what we are doing I think it has been modest and we continue to look forward to improving especially in terms of our capacity that is in terms of our equipment, our locomotives and the wagons,” he said.
The company is targeting to move 4,2 million tonnes of freight by year-end.
