Central Province Minister, Credo Nanjuwa, says Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) is a critical institution to the people of Kabwe and the province as a whole.
Mr Nanjuwa says ZRL is one institution which kept the shape of the province when the mining industry collapsed in the 1990s.
The Provincial Minister was speaking when the Parliamentary Committee on Parastatal Companies paid a courtesy call on him at his office yesterday.
“We are grateful that you decided to pay a courtesy call. Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) is a critical institution. It’s one institution which had kept the shape of the province when the mining industry collapsed,” Mr Nanjuwa said.
Mr Nanjuwa said the provincial administration was also concerned that ZRL limited has had an acting Managing Director for a long time.
He said the Zambia-China Mulungushi Textile is another giant of an industry and its shock waves are still felt in Kabwe and the whole province years after it went under.
The minister said unfortunately talking about revamping the textile industry is a thorny issue because it was used for political expediency and a lot of misinformation was churned out by the previous government.
He, however, said the government is working tirelessly to ensure that it is operationalised in order to address the unemployment among the people in the region, especially youths.
He disclosed that there have been serious engagements with the partner to see how to turn the situation around.
“China is the majority shareholder with a 66 percent portfolio while the Zambia government owns the other 44 percent. It is, therefore, difficult to arrive at an outright decision but there have been serious engagements to see how to turn the situation around,” the minister said.
Mr Nanjuwa disclosed that the equipment at Mulungushi textiles is obsolete and currently very little was happening and would require an overhaul to put it back on the right footing.
And Committee Chairperson, Brain Kambita, said his team during their tour of duty will visit ZRL and the Zambia – China Mulungushi Textiles.
Mr Kambita, who is also Zambezi East Member of Parliament (MP), said ZRL is of particular interest because it has been captured in the auditor general’s report to the effect that the Eurobond allocated to the institution was misapplied.
He expressed optimism that the executive would prioritise rail transport to give relief to the roads infrastructure in the country.
He said Zambia – China Mulungushi Textile, though not in the auditor general’s report, will also be visited in order to appreciate its operation constraints.
The committee, after a two-day stopover in Kabwe, central Province, will proceed to Muchinga Province.
Our beloved Africa
Same old same old
YAWN
Zambia railways is Zambia’s sleeping giant whose legs were cut off and the carcas stripped by hyenas that then sold them off…however the heart of ZRL is still beating…that heart is goodwill and determination of people that want it to be resuscitated so that cargo from mining towns can be ferried via rail and not by road, so that we can reduce on the dangerous traffic that leads to accidents on a daily basis. One day ZRL will come back to it’s former self I pray.
We all know ZR is critical so stop shouting on the anthill that it is. Jump into actions that show it is critical. A country that fails to run one railine is truly incompetent.
Same old story when you get any type of funding the first thing you think of is procuring personal to order VX Land cruisers. If you were serious about ZRL you would have engaged the North Americans who are the best freight train manufacturers