By Isaac Zulu
The Railway Workers Union of Zambia (RWUZ) has urged government to be cautious when concessioning TAZARA.
In an interview, Railways Workers Union of Zambia president Nathan Zulu said that government should draw lessons from the concessioning of Zambia Railways, which saw railway infrastructure degenerate owing to inadequate capital injection with cosmetic rehabilitation of the infrastructure.
“The Railway Workers Union of Zambia wants to implore Government to expedite the modernisation of the rail sub-sector in Zambia. In this regard we are keenly following the proposed concessioning of the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA),” Zulu said. “Having gone through a concession with Zambia Railways from 2003 to 2012, we want to implore Government to draw lessons from the nine years that the country lost rail development and workers lost personal development. The private concession that the Zambian Government signed with Railway Systems of Zambia saw the infrastructure degenerate owing to inadequate capital injection in the company apart from cosmetic rehabilitation that was done.”
He said that worldwide railway operations are capital intensive, adding that private companies are only interested in making profits.
“Private concessioning is not the way to go as railway operations worldwide is capital intensive and long term. Railway companies provide a service that is for the public good and mitigates the cost of doing business basically as a service to the public and not necessarily as profit oriented but merely to break even to sustain its operations,” Zulu said. “Private companies are only interested in making profit in the short to long term.”
Zulu said that unions should be involved in the whole process leading to the concessioning of TAZARA so that workers buy into the idea.
“The RWUZ therefore advocates that the impeding concession of TAZARA should be done in the model of Government to Government or public partnerships (PUPs). In this type of concessioning, the concessioned entity will be backed by two public bodies with financial muscle to carry out major rehabilitations of the permanent railway and purchase reliable rolling stock,” he said. “You can imagine the Indian or Chinese government owned railway companies partnering with TAZARA or Zambia Railways!
Further to have a successful concession under PUPs, shakeholders especially the unions representing the workers should be brought on board during the whole process because the workers need to buy in and take ownership of the new arrangement.”
He said that the concessioning of TAZARA should be done in a transparent manner, unlike was the case with the concessioning of Zambia Railways.
“The Concession Agreement will need to be made public unlike the Railway Systems of Zambia concession, which was only known to a privileged few which led to speculations and overstating of the powers that the concessionaire was given,” he said.
Zulu also called on government modernize the railway sub-sector, saying that a well equipped railway sector is cardinal for economic recovery.
“A modernized and well equipped railway sub-sector is very cardinal to Zambia’s economic recovery process. Right now, as a country we are losing a lot of productive lives due to congested and damaged roads that lead to road accidents. The greatest factor in the cost of fuel is the transport component and with a vibrant railway sub-sector, this cost would be mitigated and would lead to lower fuel prices that will, in turn, bring down the cost of most commodities,” said Zulu. “RWUZ therefore calls on government to quickly engage countries with modernized railway sub-sectors to partner with TAZARA and Zambia Railways to help revitalize the road to rail policy.”
