TAZARA approves $211 million strategic plan
By Nawa Mutumweno – The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) board has approved a five-year strategic plan (2013 – 18), with a budget outlay of $211 million to meet the company’s recapitalisation and working capital.
And the firm projects to grow its annual revenue to $122 million in 2018 from $48 million in 2013 with the increase in traffic volumes.
According to TAZARA head of public relations Conrad Simuchile, from the $211 million budget outlay, about $177 million will be used to enhance capacity in critical areas of operations.
‘’As directed by the shareholding governments (Tanzania and Zambia), the strategic plan has for the first time underpinned private sector participation in the authority’s operations, with at least 15 percent of investment funds initially expected to be sourced through strategic partnerships with willing customers and other stakeholders,’’ he said.
Other funds are to be sourced from internally-generated revenues and shareholder support, including loans obtained by the two shareholding governments from China through the protocols of economic and technical cooperation, a statement issued in Lusaka recently says.
$90 million will be spent on rehabilitation, repairs and purchase of rolling stock, including locomotives, wagons and coaches.
About $64 million will go towards infrastructure development, $22 million towards human resource development and $1 million towards the upgrade of the information communication technology (ICT) profile.
The rail firm’s board met in Lusaka from December 5 – 6, 2013 chaired by Zambia’s Transport, Works, Supply and Communication permanent secretary Charity Kaande Ngoma where they endorsed management’s strategic intent to actively engage stakeholders in the company’s re-capitalisation and working capital endeavours.
TAZARA acting managing director Ronald Phiri said the company will embark on discussions with strategic partners with a view to secure sufficient investment funding for key needy areas of operations.
‘’Due to many years of insufficient recapitalisation, TAZARA was suffering from serious capacity constraints, which made it difficult to develop business to sustainable levels despite the abundant availability of large volumes of imports, exports as well as local traffic throughout the year,’’ he explained.
The strategic plan reviewed issues and challenges the authority encountered in the last five years and prescribed what needed to be done to increase capacity and improve performance over the next five years.
‘’Having considered the important issues that need addressing in the next five years, we firmly believe that great prospects are in sight,’’ he enthused.
Funding for investment in the development and maintenance of the railway infrastructure had been the least prioritised are in the past.
Six new locomotives were acquired in 2013 while the other four new locomotives are expected this year under the 15th protocol of economic and technical co-operation.
The plan envisages a wide traffic growth path from the annual tonnage of 480 000 tonnes in 2013 to 1.5 million tonnes by 2018.
