Zimbabwe's National Railways of Zimbabwe is negotiating a $115 million loan with the African Export-Import Bank to buy 10 locomotives and 315 wagons and to repair existing railway lines.

John Mangudya, Chief Executive Officer of Mutapa Investments, the sovereign wealth fund that now oversees NRZ's operations, confirmed the negotiations. His announcement coincided with an event at which NRZ commissioned three refurbished locomotives and 100 wagons, completed through a partnership with Zimasco, the Zimbabwean ferrochrome unit of Sinosteel. The two moves together signal an attempt to combine new rolling stock acquisitions with the rehabilitation of existing assets.

The $115 million facility, if concluded, would cover only a fraction of the operator's stated needs. Mangudya put the total investment required for a comprehensive upgrade of NRZ's rolling stock and its entire network at $600 million.

Declining volumes

The funding gap reflects years of insufficient government investment, which has degraded infrastructure and cut operational capacity. NRZ's freight volumes have fallen from a peak of 12 million tons in the 1990s to a projected 2 million tons by 2025 — an 83% decline over three decades.

Against that backdrop, NRZ has pursued collaborations with private logistics firms to rebuild traffic. On July 21, the operator began moving lithium concentrate by rail to Maputo port in Mozambique, working with private partners. The service offers mining companies a cheaper alternative to trucking minerals to port, positioning NRZ to capture traffic from Zimbabwe's growing lithium export sector.

Sovereign fund oversight

Mutapa Investments' role in securing the proposed loan marks a shift in how Zimbabwe finances its rail operator. The sovereign wealth fund now leads efforts to channel capital into NRZ, placing the railway within a broader state strategy to strengthen key state-owned enterprises.

Restoring rail capacity carries direct cost implications for the mining industry, which currently depends heavily on road haulage for export flows through Mozambique. Improved infrastructure would lower logistics costs for bulk commodities and expand the network's ability to handle freight at volumes closer to historical levels.

For now, the loan remains under discussion. If Afreximbank approves the $115 million facility, NRZ would gain rolling stock and repaired lines covering part — roughly one fifth — of its $600 million requirement, leaving the bulk of the network's revitalization still to be financed.