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The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) on Tuesday announced that it has finally cleared a nine-year salary backlog and is now meeting its operating expenses.

The NRZ acting general manager Mrs Respina Zinyanduko attributed the positives the company is recording to the ongoing restructuring exercise.

She said the company’s turnaround strategy was impacting positively on the business hence it was improving on its revenues.

Mrs Zinyanduko said the company managed to clear more than $320 million in salary arrears and was meeting its operating expenses which include paying salaries every month. She said the focus now is on increasing capacity utilisation to further boost revenues.

The NRZ needs about US$400 million to fully recapitalise operations in the short term and about $1,9 billion in the long term.  It is our fervent hope that now that the NRZ is being run efficiently as evidenced by its ability to clear its salary arrears and meeting its operating expenses, it will be able to attract new investors to provide the required funding for its recapitalisation.

The NRZ signed a US$420 million recapitalisation deal with the Diaspora Infrastructure Development Group (DIDG) and Transnet of South Africa in 2017. The deal was however cancelled by Cabinet in 2019 after the investors failed to provide proof of funding.

The move by Cabinet came as a great shock to industrialists and other stakeholders who had pinned their hopes on the revival of the NRZ to address their transport challenges.

The DIDG-Transnet failed to meet contractual timelines two years after winning the tender.

After the expiry of the deadline to provide proof of funding, Government gave the consortium a six-month grace period which again lapsed leaving Government with no option but to cancel the deal.

The NZR board and management should now scout for serious investors that have the required funding now that the company is back on its rails.

We hope those involved in the recapitalisation of the NRZ project have learnt from  past mistakes and will therefore strive to avoid similar pitfalls in future.

The selection of investors should therefore be very thorough and meticulous to avoid a situation whereby potential investors first win the tender and then use the papers to look for funding.

Those who win the tender should provide proof of funding in the shortest possible time to avoid delaying implementation of this long awaited project which is pivotal to the country’s economic turnaround.

Companies are paying prohibitive transport costs for raw materials and finished products which should be moved by the revived NRZ.

Rail is the cheapest mode of transport hence the urgent need to revive the NRZ to enable it to move the bulk of industry’s raw materials and finished products within the country and across the country’s borders.