.ATANGA

By KASONDE KASONDE –

ZAMBIA Railways Limited (ZRL) plans to venture into fuel importation as a way of broadening its financial base.
Chief executive officer Muyenga Atanga said ZRL had approached Government to give the company a percentage of the fuel consignment for the country.
He said Government had shown commitment to engage the railway company.
Prof Atanga said the only challenge that the company has is the fuel storage tanks that were unavailable at the moment as fuel required special storage equipment.
He said this in Kabwe yesterday when he met with officials representing Mozambique Ports and Railways (MPR) and National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ).
Prof Atanga  said he was hopeful that with the companies working together, they could all benefit from each other and conquer their challenges.
He said ZRL had now recovered from its imminent collapse and was headed for greatness, adding that with such partnerships, the company would excel.
He said ZRL had greatly improved the speed on its locomotives in the last two years as they now moved at 40 kilometres per hour for the passenger trains and 30Km per hour for the cargo train.
Prof Atanga said companies such as NRZ and MPR that had been in the industry for a long time had a lot to offer to ZRL and they could all benefit from each other.
“Every time we partner, we always come up with solutions and I am hopeful that we are going to work together in resolving the problems such as the fuel tankage,” he said.
Meanwhile, NRZ chief executive officer Lewis Mukwada said if the railway companies put their equipment together, they could come up with a plan to deliver cargo efficiently.
Mr Mukwada said there was a lot of cargo moving on the roads in the three countries that could be captured by the railway companies.
He said the cargo on the roads was damaging infrastructure a situation that was costing Governments a lot of money through road construction and rehabilitation.
Speaking at the same meeting MPR director Augusto Abundo said his company was happy to work with ZRL in a bid to capture more cargo on the railway line.
Mr Abundo said there was a lot of cargo moving on the road and that if captured on the railway network it would help boost the railway companies.