Thursday, March 28, 2024

Zambia Railways Eurobond is still safe-Atanga

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Acting Zambia Railways Managing Director Muyenga Atanga
Zambia Railways Managing Director Muyenga Atanga

Zambia Railways Limited has dispelled reports that it has misused part of the money allocated to the railway firm from the Eurobond.

Zambia Railways Limited Chief Executive Officer Muyenga Attanga clarified that only 60 percent of the US$ 120 million Eurobond has been utilized so far.

He assured that the money will be spent on planned projects.

Professor Attanga also clarified that the failure by some contractors engaged to pay their workers recently was due to the delayed process of transferring money from ZANACO to their Finance Bank accounts.

“The money is still safe, only 60 percent has been used so far, the rest of the money is at ZANACO safely sitting there,” he said.

He said the transfer of money by ZANACO was delayed by a day resulting in the uproar by some workers.

Professor Attanga said the Company has since directed contractors to open accounts with ZANACO to ensure smooth and easy transactions between the two parties.

He also assured that Zambia Railways has the capacity to pay contractors and will ensure that they are paid on time.

And Professor Attanga has announced that Zambia Railways will double its passenger train coaches by June this year to meet the increasing demand for passenger services.

The company currently runs two passenger trains with seven coaches, which will be doubled to 17 coaches each.

Professor Attanga said Zambia Railways will also by September this year introduce an express train and that 30 coaches will be ordered from South Africa.

He added that the company will by the second quarter of next year have five passenger trains from the current two depending on demand.

And Professor Attanga said the company has created the Directorate of Passenger Services which will be headed by Mrs. Mary Mulenga.

He said that Zambia Railways is determined to improve its passenger services in order to attract more customers and meet passenger’s expectations.

42 COMMENTS

    • mr Atanga! you still have to order 30 coaches from RSA??,,,, What did you spend the 60% on??,,, if you didnot buy those coaches and the electric train is still in china/japan

    • “…delayed by a day resulting in the uproar by some workers.” I HEAR OF SUCH STATEMENTS IN ZAMBIA LIKE, ‘…the salaries were delayed only by a week.., etc’. BY THE WAY ARE SALARIES AND WAGES SUPPOSED TO BE DELAYED ANYWAY? A FRIEND OF MINE DELAYED TO PAY ZESCO LABOURERS IN LUAPULA PROVINCE A FEW YEARS BACK BY (I can’t remember exactly) UP TO A WEEK AND HE WAS CARPETED BY HIS BOSS. HE TOLD ME HIS BOSS WAS JUST JEALOUS COS HE BOUGHT HIS WIFE A CAR FROM JAPAN WHILE HIS BOSS’S WIFE DOESN’T DRIVE. I TOLD HIM HIS BOSS WAS RIGHT AND HE WAS WRONG TO DELAY THE WAGES PAYMENTS. HIS ANSWERS WAS- IT WAS ONLY FOR A FEW DAYS. I ASKED IF HE GOT HIS SALARY ON TIME HE SAID HE DID. MIND YOU HE’S A HIGHLY QUALIFIED ACCOUNTANT.

  1. He looks like a man of credibility although in a all honest the pear shape problems started when they got rid of Dr Chirwa who worked in the UK and was exposed to the rigorous work we do here

    He was the right man to take the ZR forward, they will live to regret his sacking, a move clearly ill advised and wrong

    Thanks

    • Are they any new ideas even a fraction of what Prof Chirwa had, you useless MD. From what I can see, you had no clue whatever on how Prof Chirwa wanted to transform ZR.

      Your time is up OLD RUG.

    • YOU ARE RIGHT MUSHOTA. BUT THE TROUBLE WITH CHIRWA WAS- HE COULD NOT RESPECT THE REPORTING STRUCTURE. I WONDER IF ATANGA HAS EVER LIVED AND WORKED OVERSEAS TO HAVE THE RIGHT VISION. OR AT LEAST SOUTH AFRICA. THEY WERE SCARED OF LETTING HIM ACHIEVE WHAT THEY HAVE NEVER. SO, THEY HAD TO SHOOT HIM DOWN AT THEIR EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY OF HIS MISTAKES. ZAMBIAN ENGINEERS ARGUED THAT ZAMBIA DOES NOT NEED AN ELECTRICAL TRAIN. WHAT ROTTEN HEADS OF OUR ENGINEERS.

  2. Mr Atanga, the money is not safe you have already used 60%….. and the japanese electric train is nowhere to be seen,,, but you go partying with PF kabimba in kabwe

    • You can tell ndobo takwata amano. Bit for the effort big up. Like a teenager pansaka. Nonsense after nonsense. He has even copied his djiborish on top lol

    • If euro bond was gotten to be invested, why are u keeping it? U see u can fool the people once and not always. U were among the board of directors that wanted to manipulate the same euro bond for selfish interests. Even this time around we are very suspicious about the interests being accumulated by keeping that money in the bank. Then why are you keeping that same money in the bank that offers less interest than Barclays the same thing you condemned with Pro Chirwa? On other hand I do not understand why you are so preoccupied with electric thing, Coaches bra bra…. when the railway line is still in the bad state. your predecessor wanted to use mechanized method to put back the line to its right full level. Imwee you cancel everything and engage contractors who use hoes, shovels, women,

  3. The $750 million Eurobond will be the “nail in PF’s coffin”; this haphazard way of handing out money for projects with no long term plan is a disaster in the making. Dr. Chirwa previously stated that $1 Billion is required to recapitalize the company (not sure how he arrived at that figure), so how does this $120 million fit in the overall scheme of things? How does Zambia Rail intend to raise the balance ($880million)? Will the revenue from the increase in capacity offset or exceed the Eurobond principle & interest payments when they’re due (denominated in foreign currency while the income stream will be denominated in Kwacha)? I apologize in advance if ZRA has already publicly published their long term plan and would kindly ask that the link for the document be availed to the public.

  4. OK 60% used, used on what ?? it just as good as you saying 90% is used.
    Used on what bwana ?? lets have a breakdown of manees used.

  5. If ZR had proper plans and systems they should by now be about 90% spent onbthe eurobond.! Let them not forget that the bond is not a permanet feature and will be exhausted soon meaning ZR must be employing the revenue it generates in ZR expansion and cargo handling. Very little income comes from passenger transport please!!

  6. WOuld have been better if the projects and alloacations are mentioned. havent seen any meaningfull result this far any. So spend on what?

    • Pick up a Zamtell telephone directory and count how many times that name is listed. it will give u an indication of how many chances it has of popping up in any situation including prisons, sports teams, corporate management etc.

  7. The leadership is full of useless ministers and representatives. It is small wonder that in the wake of allegations of misuse another useless representative will convince the useless leaders that all is well. What do you expect? They will have no idea how useless the information is anyway. They will just nod and get back to sleep.

    Kwisano kwafulafye ifiwelewele, filya tutiila ifipuba. Mukwai tekuti citupapushe iyoo mukutila uyo uuleulungana necipao tekuti beshibe ukutila alebepa iyoo. Pantu kabili fyonse fipuba, kabili kuti file kunta fye ifitwe mukusumina, epela fyabwelela namukusendama…

    Efyo icalo conawike mwana wandi.

    • efilya yewe basosela ati Umwine bwana alibafye bwino nomba bakapitao! Mune Kal the problem is really nepotism. To save the face of the President the man should be retired in the same way He did to Pro Chirwa. You see history is good because it reminds us of where we are coming from. in1963 the chief advisor in the ministry of transport become first General Manager of ZR and being an experts everyone hoped things gonna be okay. Ala! The man failed terribly within a year and goodness with KK, he acted swiftly by removing the man and entered into management contract with Sudaneses government, though it also failed. This is the same thing; being PS is not an automatic passage to prosperity. It is a different ball game Sir!! the system grounded and apapapene ati Mulobezi, muchinji hmmmmmmmm

  8. Instead of swiftly investing the borrowed monies and making it work. ..they are busy sitting on. Another thing reason why we need a savvy business minded CEO run ZRL to take this firm forward. In all honesty what can a PHD holder know about running a company.
    This firm has so much potential but wrong people are appointed to run it.

    • Sport on JayJay. The man himself is proper a novice in railway operations and he is surrounding himself with managers who were appointed [ I mean appointed not qualified] by RSZ. These are the same people who enslaved their fellow brothers all for love of money and were called black Jews. RSZ terribly failed my dear and morally speaking it is the same managers who failed and these are the same people who managers today. I have never see a director who has no papers ( real papers and not certificates of attendance or of achievement ) These are open secrets. The only qualified directors are finance, operations and technical. But even then, there middle managers are a bunch of low class that can do anything to survive and old on their position.i dare professional bodies to do their job

  9. Zambians are the MOST pessimistic and negative bunch I have ever seen! Come on now, does it mean if we don’t like the people in Govt at the moment then every project and intention is evil and corrupt? This is a company which was completely DEAD when PF came to power only two years ago. Within that short time they have managed to at least bring the company OUT OF A COMA. And yet some people are asking where the 60% of the $120 million Euro Bond money has been spent? Still others, in their infinity wisdom, are even saying this money should have been spent already by now. Really people?

    If you think resuscitating and procuring for a dead rail system is like buying and selling salaula, then you need your heads examined. Yes questions should be asked, but let us not be cynical. WOW!

    • Iam happy that Yambayamba is also a Zambian and so he is also a bunch of the same characteristics. And for him, he is an intelligent fool. Who told you that what Atanga and PF are doing to ZR is a favor? What people are concerned of is the way things are being done and if Mr Atanga shall ignore then he is digging his own grave. Look, the rail line is in the current state largely because of employing outdated methods to maintain it. Now, government pumps in money atleast to change the face PERMANENTLY but your CEO decides to used the same cheap method whereby the straight of the track is determined by use of eyes instead of technology. Are you mad? It is not ZR to pay back that money, its us through taxes you understand Already we have another chain with China of mobile hospital. iwe!

  10. 60% is more than half – does not make sense to say “only” – especially when there is nothing to show for (sorry I am at a distance, and so can’t see anything).

  11. Sagwapo, my country is turning into a country of thieves, for thieves by thieves. What has happened to us as a people bane?

  12. He added that the company will by the second quarter of next year have five passenger trains from the current two depending on demand.

    Just this statement in itself is a sign that there is poor management at ZR. How do you plan to acquire five passenger trains before you have done your demand forecast? This is really dangerous, it seems the management is operating on gut feeling rather than management science which uses trend to predict the future. Atanga, you are wrong for that position.

  13. I am very disappointed by professor Atanga, shifting the blame to ZANACO. ZR is responsible to ensure that ZANACO transfer the money no time to various financial institutions where contractors bank. 40% of $120 Euro loan is doing nothing, but gaining only a small interest which is petty. Putting 40 % to use could have gained more money for ZR. ZR is not being transformed, but just repairs of the line and add few coaches. Will manor repairs facilitate running the trains at full speed of 80 or 100 Km/h. ZR is not doing well, you need a CEO beyond academic qualification. We need a person with outstanding vision or outstanding business developer driven with a passion and coupled with interest to turn around ZR.

    • You see my good friend SEE, if the President real want to use social media network to help him track problems the country is facing, then let him start with this one. I want to assure the nation that that it is not out off malice that are writing all these. We can not all become CEOs. Our concern is the railway company and that is the more reason why we celebrated when His Excellence answered our request by revoking the concession. It is in the same interest that we condemn the current CEO. The man works like a governor even turning his office into a library . For God’s sake this is business and requires people who are serious. ZR needs radical and critical approach to valuably stir things. I wondered; one later ZR starts making profits! How ! Trying to paint a fake picture. Awee baba.

  14. Sata alemipangila ifitumbuwa abena Zambia!This Zambia Railways issue is a mess.This Atanga is the husband of the pf deputy secretary general,Bridget Atanga!!If this is true then Zambia is hearded for disaster.I cant say much.GOD BLESS ZAMBIA.

  15. Nowhere in Africa do passenger trains make profits. They are more of a PR thing. Concentrate on Freight ba Atanga.

    • True DiTA and worse enough in Zambian context, the railway company has never been a profit making company. It only survives purely because of its strategical importance to the economy. That is why when all go wrong the best the government has been doing is to enter into management contracts or the recent concession. It is not ease to close this company for obvious reasons. In fact when all is set and done let the government lease it once again on PPP basis because the investment required is huge to modernize the system and government has no money, provided shares shall be 50-50 not the one MMD did with RSZ. this is what is being done in West Africa Senegal for example. Infact, why boma not pursuing this case because we want to know who mortgaged the company

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