State losing US$400m from foreign cargo carriers, says ZR

By MAILESI BANDA

GOVERNMENT loses about US$400 million from the 12 million metric tonnes of cargo moved to and from the country by foreign transporters, Zambia Railways, director, operations, Vyonsi Manda has disclosed.

Mr. Manda said the cargo transportation sector was flooded by foreign transporters who took up 85 percent of the sector, adding that this led to expatriation of revenue.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, he said the total freight size that Zambia had was about 12 million metric tonnes and that Zambian transporters only moved 15 percent of the cargo.

He explained that once the government effected the statutory instrument that mandated 10 percent of heavy and bulky cargo was moved by rail, the sector was ready to provide competition and an opportunity for local transporters to participate in the sector.

“When you look at the transportation landscape in Zambia, it shows that 70 thousand kilometres is for the transportation sector and for rail when you combine Zambia Railways and TAZARA, we only cover about 2000 kilometres and so there is a gap which needs to be filled by local transporters,” he said.

He said to implement the statutory instrument there was need to partner with those in the road sub sector in the areas not serviced by rail.

He said they had already started partnering with road transporters since some of the mining firms were not yet linked to the railway network in the country.

He explained that plans were unde way to set up a tripod in Chingola and Chipata to enable the transfer of goods from Solwezi and Mozambique respectively on to rail transport.

Mr Manda said they would create dry ports in Lusaka and Ndola, adding that this was being done to push their agenda of meeting the business community’s needs of a total logistical package.