Zambia, Tanzania and DRC seal railway deal
By Nawa Mutumweno – Three national railways firms from Zambia, Tanzania and the DRC have signed a tripartite agreement to harmonise operations for smooth transportation of goods and passengers among the three countries.
Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) and Societe Nationale Des Chemins De Fer Du Congo Sarl (SNCC) signed the agreement in Lubumbashi last week, according to a media statement issued by TAZARA head of public relations Conrad Simuchile.
TAZARA acting managing director Damas Ndumbaro, ZRL CEO Clive Chirwa and SNCC acting director general Vincent Tsiongo Ngalula met on Thursday, March 7. 2013 last week to sign the agreement.
The signing ceremony was followed by three independent business agreements entered into by the respective parties, which are TAZARA and SNCC, TAZARA and ZRL and ZRL and SNCC.
A communique released in Lubumbashi says the tripartite agreement defined how the three railways shall collaborate and interact with each other in conveyance of goods and passengers through each other’s railway network without re-marshalling and trans-shipment.
‘’Importantly, we have come to a mutual understanding on all the technical parameters regarding our respective operations and provided for continuous consultations through regular interchange meetings for the entire period of the agreement,’’ the communiqué reads in part.
Of critical importance was the assistance that the three firms had agreed to render to each other whenever a railway network requested the other to assist in terms of staff or materials which it is able to provide, the communiqué adds.
With this agreement in place, cargo can now move in either direction and from Dar-es-Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi and Lubambashi and vice versa without necessarily trans-shipping, re-marshalling or complications of any sort.
