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Oliver Kazunga, Acting Business Editor 

CHINA Mining Logistics Holding Company has engaged the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) over the transportation of two million tonnes of iron ore annually from Zimbabwe to the Asian country.

In a wide-ranging interview with journalists in Bulawayo yesterday soon after meeting officials from the Chinese firm, which has proposed to set up its iron ore extraction project in Zimbabwe, NRZ board chairman Advocate Martin Dinha said: “China Mining Logistics Holding Company have a proposal, their primary business is iron ore extraction. They have discovered resources in Zimbabwe of iron ore in Mashonaland regions and Midlands. 

“They want to exploit a minimum of two million tonnes per year so their discussion is around whether NRZ has capacity to carry that from Zimbabwe through to the port of Beira in Mozambique.

“They have come for initial enquiries and we are engaging them for initial enquiries and a framework over how we can assist them while we benefit of course.

“It’s a business opportunity for us but we require to recapitalise ourselves in terms of locomotives.” 

NRZ, the country’s strategic transporter, is seeking an investor for its recapitalisation project after Cabinet last year cancelled the US$400 million deal NRZ entered with the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG)-Transnet Consortium.

The DIDG/Transnet Consortium was awarded the tender by the then State Procurement Board in August 2017 for the revival of NRZ’s operations.

The parastatal’s rehabilitation programme entails renewal of plant and equipment, rolling stock, track signalling and telecommunications infrastructure and supporting information technology systems. 

Adv Dinha said while NRZ recapitalisation project was being pursued, the firm’s board and management would not afford to wait for the conclusion of the deal.

It was in this context, he said that NRZ has embarked on an offensive to chase after business to improve on freight volumes and boost the entity’s viability.

“Our approach is that we are now chasing after the business and anyone with large volumes of haulage to be carried in and outside Zimbabwe, we are going for you because we want to do business.

“We want to carry your items because our mandate is logistics to carry goods as well as transport people for social and economic reasons,” he said. 

Adv Dinha said Government was also looking at funding NRZ to improve on its capacity to move bigger volumes.

At its peak in the 1990s, the company used to move about 14,4 million tonnes of freight against an installed capacity of 18 million.

The freight volumes have over the years dropped drastically and this is as a result of the prevailing economic challenges and NRZ’s reduced capacity.

Adv Dinha said anchored on their strategic plan to chase after business from across all economic sectors, exciting times were beckoning at NRZ underpinned by the “Zimbabwe is open for business” agenda the Government has adopted.

“We have in just two days three or four business enquiries from different nationalities who want to do business with us because the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra by the President is now bearing fruit,” he said. — @okazunga.