The National Railways of Zimbabwe has brought 100 refurbished high-sided wagons and three locomotives back into service under a US$2.8 million partnership with ferrochrome producer Zimasco, as the state operator pursues a far larger financing package to rebuild its fleet.

The rolling stock was commissioned in Harare on Thursday by Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona, who described the arrangement as a model for reviving idle railway assets without an immediate call on the treasury.

“This partnership exemplifies a win-win financial engineering model. By funding the overhaul of idle wagons in exchange for freight charge offsets, Zimasco has secured a reliable supply chain route to international markets,” Mhona said.

Under the deal, Zimasco financed the refurbishment of idle stock in return for freight charge offsets and dedicated capacity to move chrome and ferrochrome towards the regional ports of Beira and Maputo.

Mhona said a functioning railway was essential to Zimbabwe’s stated goal of reaching upper-middle-income status by 2030, describing rail as the cheapest and safest way to move bulk cargo. He argued the investment would ease logistics bottlenecks and spare rehabilitated roads the damage caused by heavy trucks.

The commissioning forms part of a wider recapitalisation effort led by the Mutapa Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund to which NRZ was transferred.

Fund chief executive John Mangudya said the strategy was aimed at restoring the railway’s commercial viability. Among the planned interventions is a US$115 million facility being negotiated with the African Export-Import Bank, which would fund 10 new locomotives, 315 wagons and the rehabilitation of key infrastructure.

Government is also pursuing track and signalling upgrades and a resource-backed arrangement with China Railway International Group.

Mhona said US$10 million had been secured for the Chicualacuala–Plumtree and Machipanda–Harare lines through tripartite cooperation with Mozambique and Botswana, and that cooperation with South Africa on the North-South Corridor had been revived.

NRZ has been hollowed out by years of under-investment, and freight volumes remain a fraction of what the network carried at its peak in the 1990s. Mhona urged other mining companies, farmers and fuel importers to take up similar partnerships.

Sources: NewZimbabwe.com, 263Chat, Sowetan, MINING.COM, Business Day.

Zimbabwe will open the door to private grain imports after Cabinet approved a drought mitigation plan built around projections of a sharply lower harvest in the 2026/2027 season.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Zhemu Soda said Cabinet had signed off on an updated summer plan incorporating drought measures, following a seasonal rainfall outlook pointing to below-normal rains across much of the country.

Government projections put total cereal output for the coming season at about 1.6 million tonnes, down from roughly 2.68 million tonnes the previous season — a fall of close to 40 percent.

“The private sector will be allowed to bring in grain to meet the needs of businesses and people, and they will also look at increasing the amount of grain that households can bring in for basic food,” Soda said, in remarks reported by NewZimbabwe.com.

NewsDay separately reported the Cabinet decision that the private sector would be permitted to import, covering both commercial needs and livestock feed, while households continue to bring in basic food items.

The plan is structured around six pillars, among them an enhanced strategic grain reserve, climate-smart production, livestock drought mitigation and expanded imports, alongside early-warning and coordination measures.

Meteorological forecasts point to reduced rainfall and above-average temperatures, raising the prospect of extended dry spells. The heaviest pressure is expected to fall on smallholder farmers who depend on rain-fed agriculture, and on livestock and water supplies.

The move reverses a tightening of import rules made earlier in the year, when improved domestic production allowed the government to scale grain imports back.

Officials have also flagged higher fuel and fertiliser costs, driven by global supply disruption, as a complicating factor for the coming season.

There is one bright spot. This year’s wheat harvest has come in strongly, giving the country a firmer base heading into the summer cropping season and some cushion against the shortfall now being forecast.

Sources: NewZimbabwe.com, NewsDay Zimbabwe, The Herald, Chronicle, Xinhua.

Invictus Energy has awarded oilfield services group SLB a drilling and well services contract for the Musuma-1 exploration well in Zimbabwe’s Cabora Bassa Basin, clearing one of the last major items standing between the company and a planned November start to drilling.

SLB, formerly Schlumberger, will supply specialised well services, technology and operational resources for the campaign. Equipment preparation, logistics and mobilisation planning are under way.

“Securing SLB completes another critical component of the Musuma-1 campaign and significantly advances operational readiness ahead of drilling,” Invictus managing director Scott Macmillan said. The company pointed to SLB’s continuity from its earlier Mukuyu-2 drilling campaign in the same basin.

Work is running on several fronts at once. Construction of the Musuma-1 wellpad, access roads and supporting civil infrastructure is progressing, while contractor Exalo has begun maintenance, inspection and readiness work on Rig 202. Once that programme is finished the rig will be moved to the wellsite for rig-up, commissioning and acceptance before drilling begins.

Over the coming weeks Invictus plans to complete the wellpad and civil works, finish the rig maintenance, and move drilling materials, tubulars and wellhead equipment to site alongside SLB’s equipment.

Musuma-1 will test an independent exploration target in what the company calls the Eastern Margin play of the Cabora Bassa Basin. It is a separate prospect from the Mukuyu gas field in northern Zimbabwe, where Invictus has already made a discovery.

The stakes for the country are larger than any single well. Zimbabwe imports its fuel and has spent years short of dependable power. A commercial gas find in the Cabora Bassa Basin would alter that arithmetic, which is why each step towards the drill bit — a rig secured, a services contract signed, a spud date held — draws more attention here than a routine contract award otherwise would.

Sources: World Oil; Proactive Investors.