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MOZAMBIQUE’S publicly owned port and rail company, CFM, has signed a “Service Level Agreement” with the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), and the Zimbabwean ferrochrome producer, Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting Company, Zimasco.

NRZ public relations manager, Mr Nyasha Maravanyika, confirmed the deal yesterday and described the move as a step in the right direction towards creating business for the strategic entity.

“Yes, it is true that such a deal was signed between ourselves (NRZ), Zimasco and CFM.

“The deal was signed in Harare on October 25. Technically, the deal means good business for NRZ and it also spells better years to come for NRZ. We are happy and satisfied with the deal,” he said.

According to a source in CFM, the agreement should guarantee the movement of large amounts of chrome and of iron ingots to the ports of Beira and Maputo along the Mozambican rail network (the Machipanda and Limpopo lines, respectively).

The agreement came into force on 1 November 2017 and is valid until December 2018. During that period it envisages the rail transport of about a million tonnes of these minerals for export, or around 70 000 tonnes a month.

With the signing of this agreement the amount of freight using the Limpopo line next year should rise to about a million tonnes, a figure never reached before.

To achieve these figures, CFM and NRZ are mobilising the necessary locomotives and wagons.

The agreement was signed by the chairperson of the CFM board, Miguel Matabel, and by the company’s executive director for operations, Agostinho Langa.

The managing director of NRZ, Engineer Louise Mukwada, signed for his company, as did the chief executive office of Zimasco, John Musekiwa.

Cabinet recently approved the NRZ’s $400 million deal with a consortium led by the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) and South Africa’s Transnet. The move has paved way for the last leg of negotiations before the deal takes off.

DIDG/Transnet was recently announced as the preferred investor out of 85 companies that were interested in investing in the country’s sole rail company.

South African banks — Standard Bank, Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) — and the Industrial Development Corporation (SA) are said to have put up funding letters worth $1,2 billion for the project, of which $400 million is earmarked for initial investment in capital expenditure.

NRZ is in dire need of funding and strategic joint ventures are crucial in revitalising the company’s operations. — AIM/Business Reporter.