ZDA to pick bidder for Njanji Cummuter

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THE Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has completed evaluation of two firms short listed to undertake the concession of Njanji Commuter Railway Services and is expected to make a decision soon.

ZDA communications manager, Margaret Chimanse, said the board was currently reviewing a report submitted by the technical committee which evaluated the bids.

Ms Chimanse said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the board was still looking into the matter and was expected to make a decision anytime soon.

“The board is reviewing the situation and looking into it. It has not yet decided but will do that once it sits next time,” she said.

Last year ZDA was evaluating bids from two companies that showed interest to undertake the concession of Njanji Commuter Service (NCS) assets.

The assets are mainly the railway line within Lusaka covering a distance of 13.5 kilometers.

The two bids evaluated were one from a consortium of Lusaka Metro Limited with Circle Capital Global a South African company and City Rail Limited of Lusaka.

If the technical committee appointed to evaluate the bids failed to select a final bidder from the two submitted, the concession would have to be re-advertised.

The ZDA board is expected to approve selection of the final bidder to carry out a concession of NCS.
The concession period is for 15 years renewable based on performance.

According to the agency, bidders were free to propose the development and restoration of the original NCS railway line from Chilenje to George townships.

The technical proposals were to address possible re modeling and rehabilitation and investment methods such as Build and Operate and Transfer and variants of BOTs schemes.

The agency says the operator would be expected to invest in rolling stock and rehabilitation of the rail track.

Recently, two firms expressed interest to undertake the concession of NCS assets after ZDA invited qualified operators to undertake the concession.
The NCS has been dormant for 11 years after it ceased operation in 1996.

Government has also noted encroachments on the railway track route through the residential areas east of the city center.

At the peak of its operations, the commuter served the needs of thousands of passengers who found it cheaper than buses.

Zambia Daily Mail

61 COMMENTS

  4. Positive move. This may ease the difficult commuters are experiecinn currently and will bring competition to the bus operators. Go ZDA Go!!

  5. Ms Chimanse thts a gud gesture but y r u so slow?How can an evaluation of ONLY TWO firms tek u months 2complete?U jus wanted 2get alot of allowances(per diem. By the way i thot by now since u left ZNBC nganatumfwa ati Mrs Margaret.

  7. I remember them days when i used to board the Njanji train,it was really cheap and convinient.And this move will make the bus operators reduce the fares as they seem to have created a cartel. They are quick to increase and not willing to reduce if required to,very sad indeed.To me, the transport sector is too liberalised and requires urgent regulation from Govt. By the way,iam nambala 5

  8. dats a great move,op da one whose gona win da bid is gona serve da pipo wit o da neccesary goods.zambia is fond of giving contractes to shody companies.

  11. in fact i think more of such should be buil in Lusaka especially, tooo much conjestion mu road on rail its sooo organised and it carries more people and for sure they should increase this ama mini bus too much conjestion mu road!

  12. About time, but the govt should also look into the operations of railway systems, they have failed and maibe its time we kicked them out

  15. Why don’t people grow up with number staff like the chap, on no 9. I hope LT get to delete an start banning such posters
    Margaret Chimanse isnt she the lady who used to read the ZNBC news. Whats this ex newsreaders getting top notch positions in government is that a stepping stone? Siliya, Nkandu etc..

  16. government must partiner with whoever is going to win the bid. This GRZ must also run businesses like other countries.

  18. I can already smell Corruption here. What reviewing again? You simply select the best bid, period. The problem is that they think we dont know these things. Reviewing? Alanda ne chisungu? Alaa! 😕

  19. Do the Njanji work right now?
    Taking over the assets will the person who takes over re-build Njanji. What assets are these? Cash? Buildings?

  20. The board should be over board and choose a comapny that will take care of passengers welfare. no more those old TATA buses chasis we had. That was a potentila danger that was waiting to have happened.Lets Go for safety and quality this time please.

  23. This is the way to go and i hope this is not just lip service .like the way they say about ;Chipata -Muchinji rail line
    -Zimba livingstone road
    -Chipata lundazi road …ad infin..etc

  24. Whilst she is issuing a positive sounding statement, there is “Nchekeleko” going on in the background. Overnight someone will be a millionaire. Ati Reviewing??? Watch this space. :-\”

  25. Its about time. I remember the old days when I used to get on that commuter train.
    Too many new names on the blog. Even Maestro has changed his name, I wonder why. Ha ha ha ha ha!

    I should change mine as well to Tom Jones.

  26. This is a good idea. Population has increased from the last time the train was functional so why not extend it. Make lusaka a modern city so let there trains and trams covering all the areas and all of them converging into the city. Learn from the cities like London, New York, Paris and then see what is going to work in Zambia. Use trains and trams that don’t use diesel but electricity and it might be cheaper to run them. Do this for all the big cities and you will see how much progress you bring to Zambia and don’t worry about how long it will take to implement, start thinking long term projects. I have no doubt you will create jobs while construction is on and while they are operational.

  30. Margaret is married to a West African but she doesn’t use his name. These secret marriages!!!! This Njanji commuters will never craw!!!

  31. i feel the commuter will be very welcome as it will help reduce the monopoly that minibus drivers and other related Poor Finishing agencies enjoy

  32. Ba Moze and Ba Maureen,
    Am changing My name because Nine Chale said something about my name and cuteys’ name.
    Nine Chale, Your thinking ‘allowed’ just made me cross.
    :)>-

  33. #30 uyo mulomo mummy . leave magret alone, i dont think there is any blogger who has ill feelings about her. so what if she is maried to a west african , te bantu nabo ?

  34. Yap! thats what we are talking about, that will definately ease congestion in the ciy center and help reduce bus fares in town

  36. This is sad, we failed to continue were the UNIP Government had reached. Honestly after destroying what was a local initiative people want us to celebrate. Unless Chimanse and the ZDA team were to take the rail as far as chalala, zingalume, kafue – chilanga etc, then its a step ahead. Not was it used to be. Its like going back to grade 7 after staying away for 8 years.

  40. But why does somebody think about creating a ring railway line around Lusaka? Why should Chilenje/Matero be the only beneficiary of this service. What about Chelstone na kwa Mandebvu and all of those areas?
    Ndolic
    Tell us about the Chipata/Lundazi rd. I have to go there next week and to tell you the truth, I am not looking forward to the trip. I guess this is because the powers that be never have to travel on it kabili they can afford to fly!!

  42. Zambia and luck of seriousness
    1. North Western Rail
    2. Muchingi rail
    3. We cant maintain the Copperbelt – Livingstone rail
    4. Tazara will soon be history.

    If great countries can depend on rail network just to drive their industries, who are we?

  43. As you can see this government has failed. Deepak patel should have been the president

    I am warning we need someone like an obama and deepak is that man, to bring change and bring a lot of indian investment. there will be lots of jobs and influx of foreign investments like India.

    Please stand against mmd and make sure in 2011 we bring the party to savus us Independent party with deepak mago Patel. A true ambian at heart. he is my uncle and he knows what we need.

  45. Can the government do something about the railway systems please. It is on the verge of collapsing.People have eve stopped boarding a train.Only tongas are found with containers of zigolo and loaves of bread. Sharing the same container of Zigolo,father mother and children.Ala kwena aba tonga bansekesha ineeee!!!

  49. Tom Jones aka sarah fimo fimo

    Mwana, i will not accept your change of name. Why?…because nowadays am failing to trust anybody, and i mean ANYBODY!…Ok, with the exception of Rashid, Matworld, Man Kunde,Nine Chale, Zoe and the other original bloggers. Be strong sarah. Yashani iyo?

  50. Deepak Patel will win the elections, please support a guy in 2011 who cares about you and me.
    A Man who knows what it means on suffering and how to spend money wisely. A man who will bring in serious investors such as heavy investors Indians etc.

    Lets us start campaigning now, let us Put Deepak Patel in the State house, change has come. Change will be in 2011. Deepak Patel, who will stand o an independent ticket, is the answer for all our problems.
    He will build new roads, new football grounds new and better shopping complexes, reduce AIDS and create million jobs.

  53. Bloggers

    Nayenda manje ayi. We blogg each each tommoro, ka?
    Sarah Jones…Good night. Ulekeletu va Tom fimo fimo.

  54. Finally Proud of garden,s prayers have been answered. He always talks about the the NJANJI COMMUTER SERVICES. listen to him on sky forrum and unza radio.

  55. #32,
    Sarah Jones I have just ignored that Kadoli’s comment.. not worth changing my user name for. will you do the same for me and all the others who care for you???
    Not worth the salt….I just had a laugh out of the comment as it reminded me of something naughty…

    ‘SARAH JONES’ REMAINS ‘SARAH JONES’. :x:x:x<:-p<:-p:*:*:*@};-@};-~o)~o)~o)

  56. The first Performance appraisal on this Govt by the Zambian people will be held on 1st Feb 09 based on the 3 months probation period.The second performance appraisal will be held 1st May 09 based on the 6 months probation period afterwhich the Zambian people will decide based on the outcome whether to ask them to resign honourably or if the performance is positive then a yearly performance appraisal will be conducted on 1st November of each year until the elections in 2011.This will apply to every Govt that will ever rule Zambia.LT please come up with topics relevant to these assessments on the due date to give an opportunity to Zambians to fairly & objectively assess the Govt.

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