NRZ engages Turkish firm for railway rehabilitation
Tracy Moyo
VICTORIA FALLS – The National Railways of Zimbabwe has engaged a Turkish firm for the rehabilitation and modernisation of the railway line.
Speaking to Community Podium, Advocate Martin Tafara Dinha, the NRZ Board Chairman revealed the circumstances surrounding the roping in of the Turkish firm, Yapi Merkezi to rehabilitate Zimbabwe’s obsolete railway lines.
“Our embassy in Turkey through Ambassador Alfred Mutiwazuka, inspired by the economic diplomatic thrust of President Mnangagwa, identified opportunities for railway rehabilitation, development and investment in the host country…Yapi Merkezi, who are a leading railway and construction company, renowned worldwide showed interest in the NRZ.
Since we (NRZ) belong to the Government of Zimbabwe which is our shareholder, we sought and obtained authority to engage the Turks leading to the signing of a memorandum of understanding,” said Dinha.
Yapi Merkezi is currently in the country on a technical visit to assess the NRZ infrastructure for the purpose of modelling a funding for rehabilitation and modernisation of the NRZ.
Dinha affirmed his faith in the Turkish firm while counting on its impressive track record in Zambia, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
“We are confident that we will gain value from their input,” he added.
Adv. Dinha further said that the rehabilitation and modernisation of the NRZ was long overdue, while frankly highlighting the deplorable state of infrastructure at the parastatal and what needs to be done.
“NRZ was established more than 100 years ago. The infrastructure has become obsolete. The coaches are in bad shape. Signals are in a terrible condition due to vandalism over time and lack of upgrade of systems. We need new locomotives, coaches and wagons and that is why we have engaged Yapi Merkezi,” said Adv. Dinha.
Development Manager of Yapi Merkezi, Ali Salih Uslu also shared his optimism about the project with this publication and revelled in his company’s increasing presence and influence in Africa.
“We will do our best. We are so excited to be here…we know Africa very well as we have been in Ethiopia and Tanzania for so many years. Hopefully we will add a little value towards the development of Zimbabwe,” said Uslu.
Adv. Dinha stressed that the NRZ is currently operating way below its potential but is hopeful that it can still be salvaged and restored to its former glory.
“NRZ has capacity to employ over 15 000 people. At the moment, we employ only 4 650 people. We want to get our capacity utilisation to 100%. We look forward to employ media personnel, engineers, technicians, artisans, lawyers and many other professionals,” he said.
NRZ offers bulk freight services to several commercial sectors that include mining, energy and agriculture. In the first half of the year, the parastatal lost over 1.6 billion in potential revenue due to the adverse effects of Covid-19.
