eBusiness Weekly
Kudakwashe Mhundwa
The National Railways Zimbabwe (NRZ) earned over US$6 million in the period 2017-2018 from the sale of 30 000 tonnes of scrap metal, with part of the proceeds being used to finance refurbishment of about 600 locomotives, according to general manager Lewis Mukwanda.
Scrap belonging to the parastatal has triggered a lot of interest from both local and foreign industries given the mineral rich deposits that are found in the metal for example copper.
Mr Makwanda told Business Weekly that some of the scrap that was being sold during the period under review comprised of copper which was recovered from the parastatal catenary system located in Gweru.
“The scrap that we generate is from old wagons and also when our electrified section that is the section between Harare and Gweru was vandalised we recovered the remaining copper from the catenary system. The system that was supplying power to the electric trains so that was another form of scrap,” he said.
Mukwanda also highlighted that the rail transporter has been facing challenges in disposing of the scrap as local industry off takers have been facing viability challenges.
Previously the country’s legislation hindered the transporter from selling its scrap to international players, however Makwanda highlighted that during the period under review the company had been granted a special commission to dispose the scrap to international players.
“Over the last two-three years we had amassed 30 000 tonnes of scrap by way of wagons, previously we have been having problems in disposing this scrap because the industry that would use this scrap was down and they were taking very small quantities.
“…But we did get a special commission that is a once off dispensation to dispose to people who wanted to sell either locally or for export markets and we did get rid of those 30 000 tonnes of scrap in fact in 2018 we realised more than US$3 million and a similar amount in 2017.
“This money we used to support our program to refurbish locomotives, wagons and we were able to do 584 wagons last year, partly from the money from scrap and from some funds we had borrowed previously from some banks.
Going forward most of the scrap is now being bought by local producers who are smelting it, previously (2017/18) we also had some international scrap dealers who were coming in and bringing forex,” said Makwanda.
He said for the FY2019 volumes of scrap available have significantly gone down to 6 000 tonnes.
“However the volumes have gone down because like I said we had amassed quite a large quantity when we were trying to get rid of our old wagons so this year we are talking of volumes of about 6 000 tonnes that is just from scrap arising,” he said.
