EAC official warns against concessioning Tazara

East African Community (EAC) secretary- general Juma Mwapachu has cautioned Zambia and Tanzania against rushing into concessioning Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara), as ministers from the two African countries and China meet to discuss financing of the cash-strapped firm.

During their bilateral meeting in Livingstone, Zambia, last July, presidents Rupiah Banda of Zambia and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania agreed to concession Tazara, possibly to the Chinese.

But Mr Mwapachu said Tazara required financing and not concessioning.

“Concessioning experience has been very poor both in Tanzania as well as Kenya. I don’t know about Zambia. Its been the same… so one does not need to rush to concessioning as an objective,” said Mr Mwapachu in an interview in Zambia.

“I think we need to look into what has gone wrong in these concessions because a lot has gone wrong. We can manage these railways better if the governments put adequate resources. I think the problem is that not enough investment has been going into renewing the engines and the railway system in general.”

Interest-free loan

Tazara, which is about 1, 870 kilometres stretching from Dar- es- Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia, was built by the Chinese through an interest-free loan.

However, in the recent past, Tazara has been beleaguered by financial difficulties, putting it on the verge of collapse. But Mr Mwapachu said Tazara could recover if recapitalised.

“I do support many forms of privatization but I think it is wrong to try and concession the physical infrastructure whose critical challenge is resources because most of these concessioners don’t really bring in money on their own right,” said Mr Mwapachu, adding: “they (concessioners) always depend on how our governments relate to the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank (ADB) and they want that money to be pumped into the railway.”

With such scenario, Mr Mwapachu said anybody could manage the railway system.

“So I think we have rushed too much into concessioning. I think we need to address the core problem and the core problem is resources,” said Mr Mwapachu. “The Chinese government has now decided to pump in significant amount of financial support to Tazara. I think the aim right now is to bring Tazara back to its efficient ways before you do concessioning.”

Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Qiangmin this week said, “(officials from) Zambia and China are currently meeting in my country over the financing and the future of Tazara.”

Mr Li said the Chinese government would continue to support Zambia and Tanzania in managing Tazara.

Efficiently operate

“We are looking at how we can efficiently operate Tazara railway; we are looking for some possibility to find some capable Chinese company that is very professional to operate the Tazara railway,” Mr Li said in Lusaka.