WUTAZ SALUTES SI ON RAIL CARGO
By BENNIE MUNDANDO THE signing of a Statutory Instrument (SI) to enable 30 percent of all bulky and heavy cargo to move by rail is long overdue and commendable as it will help improve traffic volumes we haul, the Workers’ Union of TAZARA (WUTAZ) has observed.
WUTAZ president, Bedwin Malowa, said the current volumes hauled by TAZARA were so low that the company failed to fulfil its obligation such as paying employees’ salaries adding that the development had come at the right time as it would help the institution enhance its operations.
“The news that Government has signed an SI to enable 30 percent of all bulky and heavy cargo move by rail has elated WUTAZ because this will help improve on the traffic volumes we haul as TAZARA. Currently, the volume hauled by TAZARA are so low that the company even fails to fulfil its obligations such as paying salaries for its workers and other statutory obligations, hence making this move commendable and long overdue,” Mr. Malowa said.
He noted that if properly administered, the move would bankroll serious issues TAZARA was faced with such as failure to pay its workers add- ing that while the 30 percent was commendable, a higher rate of around 50 percent would have been much better.
“We just hope and pray that this will not end as mere rhetoric. We urge Government to attach serious commitment to this so as to ensure that implementation is successful. Government must provide the necessary aid to TAZARA and Zambia Railways because these companies are faced with a lot of challenges. “If properly administered, it (the SI) has the advantage with bankrolling the serious issues TAZARA is faced with such as failure to pay its staff for example. As WUTAZ, we welcome the move with open arms though we could have loved that the percentage was raised even higher to 50 percent for example, but for a start, we think this is not bad,” he said.
On Friday, Transport and Communications Minister, Brian Mushimba, announced the signing of the SI which will see the movement of 30 percent of bulk Cargo from road to rail.
Mr. Mushimba said that the decision was arrived at after a protracted consultative process over the SI which took exactly one year in order to make it a comprehensive and exhaustive process and that the added benefit that would be brought through the SI would be that the cost of doing business in the country would be reduced.
He stated that the PF Government had been talking about the appropriateness of travel because it knew that to grow the economy in the way it wanted, it was important for Zambia to become a transport and communications hub in sub-Sahara Africa and that it needed to ensure more investment on road infrastructure.