Zimbabwe has incredible potential
Saved under Business, Opinion, SOUTHERN AFRICA, Zimbabwe
Tags: Agriculture, Bulawayo, Energy, Gweru, mining, National Railways of Zimbabwe, NRZ
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ZIMBABWE is poised to be one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and will also become the most advanced in a very short space of time, but only if we have leadership which understands the concept of stewardship.
I have been analysing Zimbabwe’s potential in various economic sectors including agriculture, mining, energy and infrastructure and I am dumbfounded at the potential that our country offers.
One area I have looked at is our railway system, which is hugely underutilised and neglected and yet it remains an incredible economic asset for the country.
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) was established in 1897 and we have about 2 800 kilometres of rail, which needs to be replaced because it has exceeded its 30 year lifespan. It was originally designed to ferry a capacity of 18 million tonnes of goods per annum and employed 23 000 people full time at its peak. In 2007, for example, it ferried 17 million passengers per annum and is currently operating at about 15 percent of its potential capacity, if not less.
On the freight side, in 1990, the total amount of freight carried by rail was 14,3 million tonnes, which translated into a capacity utilisation rate of about 80 percent, compared to the current two million tonnes per annum.
The system has three well-connected hubs, Bulawayo, Gweru, and Harare. The railway is at the centre of the international rail routes linking the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and its ports of Beira and Maputo, and South Africa and its ports of Durban, Richards Bay, and Port Elizabeth.
It is also at the centre of shorter and cost-effective railroad links between Malawi and South Africa through Bulawayo, the port of Beira through Harare, and Lusaka and the port of Durban through Bulawayo.
The line from Zambia through Victoria Falls, the line from Botswana through Plumtree, the line from South Africa through Beitbridge, and the line to the central parts of Zimbabwe through Gweru meet at Bulawayo, where the headquarters of the NRZ is located.
The north-south main line from South Africa into Zimbabwe joins the network at Gweru while the line from Mozambique through Mutare joins the network in Harare.
The NRZ, is in fact, a regional hub while it also creates linkages within the country which can result in the easy movement of minerals and agricultural products and inputs at very competitive pricing compared to road transport, which is almost double the rail cost per tonne per kilometre. It links all the major cities in the country and all the major mines and agricultural economic hubs.
Ferrying goods using rail is not only cheaper, but it also means that the cost of maintaining our road networks is reduced considerably and more importantly, its use makes our products, be they imports or exports, more competitive.
The African Development Bank has recommended the rehabilitation of the railway network and restructuring of the industry through the creation of a new public entity that would own, maintain, and manage the basic track infrastructure, the restructuring of the NRZ into a privatised railways services company and the award of concessions for freight and passenger services on the entire rail network.
Speaking to experts, the rehabilitation of the entire line would take about 20 years and this would employ a huge number of our young unemployed folk. In addition, the steel required would result in huge benefits to our steel companies.
In order to rehabilitate our railway system, we will also need new rolling stock, the repair of signalling systems, massive training of technicians and competent management at the top.
We would also need our industry to come on board and make use of rail transport more as opposed to road transport, resulting in massive savings on road maintenance and trade costs.
This would, of course, also relieve pressure and costs at our border posts and improve the flow of goods in and out of the country.
The management model can be that of giving concessions to private operators and I think we must look at a model which can also facilitate the participation by local communities in the opportunities presented by such an approach.
We will also have to revive our agriculture sector and mining sectors so that we can create the necessary linkages.
AfDB estimated that we will need close to US$2 billion to revive our railways system, which isn’t much given its multiplier effect to the economy.
In fact, if we had a government with integrity we could really finance this on our own from our minerals revenues.
As I have always maintained, Zimbabwe is not poor, but poorly managed. It is very important that we are appreciate our country’s potential and ensure that at some stage in the future we repair the damage done over the last 37 years and reinvent Zimbabwe to the benefit of our future generations.
Another Zimbabwe is possible!
