Nduduzo Tshuma Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Defence Forces has called for the inclusive reform of industry that will involve the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), a key player in the bulk transportation of goods.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the rail company by members of the Zimbabwe Defence College (ZDC) at the NRZ training centre in Bulawayo on Wednesday, the college’s commandant, Air Vice Marshal Michael Moyo, said the army would also train its officers with requisite skills for unique organisations like the railways.

He said the briefing was informative as it enlightened them on the challenges facing the country’s ailing giant parastatal.

“Given that the NRZ is the biggest mover and transporter of bulk consignment, I think the NRZ, can’t be backward. I was with some colleagues from Hwange last month and the problem they face sometimes is the movement of their cargo,” said AVM Moyo.

“What happens is that when you try to revive these industries you must try and get these stakeholders together so that whatever Hwange Colliery and other players are doing, the NRZ will also be involved and project the future benefits in it.

“If they do it individually, you will find out that at the end of the day NRZ is not prepared for the new business.”

AVM Moyo said ZDF was ready to assist any national institution at the government’s request as long as they have the requisite skills.

“I think your papers reported today (Wednesday) that ZDF has sent doctors and nurses to hospitals because doctors are on strike. This is the nature of partnership we have,” he said.

“What needs to be done is that because NRZ is a unique organisation, we need to train some of our staff in advance so that we do not wait until there are problems. When there are problems those people come for a refresher and will be able to assist when the need arises.”

NRZ acting general manager Lewis Mukwada said the visit was a general feature on the calendar of the Defence College where they visit state institutions to familiarise themselves with what is going on.

He said it was necessary for various organs of the country to get an appreciation of the strategic issues surrounding key institutions in the country.

“Zim-Asset for example requires coordination of various organs of the country and it is important that all organs appreciate what is going on, the challenges that they face and the strategies to address those challenges,” said Mukwada.

He said NRZ had entered into a contract with Chinese partners for the supply of locomotives and wagons and were anticipating accessing a credit facility.

NRZ paid $2 million in 2004 as deposit for the facility.

“Unfortunately we’ve not been able to access the credit facility but in the meantime we had raised the money that was required for the deposit. So what we are going to do is approach the parent ministry and say with the money that we had raised for deposit, can we utilise it this way so that we get value for the money,” said Mukwada.

He said NRZ managed to get a special dispensation from the ministry of Industry and Commerce and from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to allow winners of tenders to dispose of the company’s scrap metal to export.

“The tender was awarded and we have engaged the successful bidder, at the moment, as we talk they are mobilising the staff and preparing to start disposing of the metal.

“With the money we are going to raise with the sale of the scrap, we are going to invest in the refurbishment of our equipment, the locomotives and wagons so that we can kick start our recovery programme,” said Mukwada.

He said they had been engaging the Development Bank of South Africa DBSA for a loan facility and that bank did a study on the NRZ system which revealed that $440 million was required to revamp the company.

He said the full recovery of the NRZ would require about $1, 9 billion, “so the facility we are looking at for the immediate term is $442 million but over the long term we need to use our own means and raise another $1, 5 billion so that we recover fully”.

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