NRZ recovery now rests on BDSA loan talks: Official

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The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has failed to attract suitors to fund its projects, and has pinned the recovery on the talks between government and the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) over a $450 million loan facility, an official has said.

BULAWAYO — The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has failed to attract suitors to fund its projects, and has pinned the recovery on the talks between government and the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) over a $450 million loan facility, an official has said.

The troubled parastatal is seeking nearly $2 billion in funding and early this year made presentations to African envoys who visited its head office in Bulawayo as part of an initiative by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce to help the company.

The funding proposals were also presented to government to help in the search of possible suitors.

“We have not received any inquiries. We are now hoping the DBSA deal will come through,” NRZ spokesman Fanuel Masikati said on Tuesday.

The DBSA funds, if made available, will be used to rehabilitate railways system and procure rolling stock as a way of addressing some of NRZ’s challenges.

DBSA has already invested more than $200 million in various road projects in the country including the Infralink road construction project which covers road rehabilitation from Plumtree to Mutare. NRZ has tabled a number of ambitious proposals, among them the Harare-Chitungwiza urban commercial railway system estimated to cost about $440 million dollars and the Kadoma-Sengwa link.

It has also suggested setting up two manufacturing units and opening up new routes but has failed to find takers for the proposals.

— The Source