At
least 980 National Railways of Zimbabwe wagons had been loaded with
wheat as of yesterday and most of them were now docked at millers as Government
moves to ease the shortage of the cereal grain, a Cabinet minister has said.
In an interview yesterday, Transport and
Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza said most of the wagons
were already at the millers and National Foods Limited.
The shortage of wheat has seen bread
disappearing from shops, a situation which has seen its price soaring
particularly on the black market.
Minister Matiza said Government dispatched
NRZ wagons to Mozambique to expedite wheat delivery after coaches from that
country broke down.
“The commodity is available. Some of the
wheat is already at Beira while we have also supplied National Foods and the
Grain Millers’ Association. We have been supplying them quite efficiently and
we are committed to continue doing that to ensure wheat availability in the
country. We have stocks in Beira,” said Minister Matiza.
“Currently, there are 198 wagons so far as
of yesterday. What was happening was that the Mozambican side experienced some
breakdowns and they are repairing their wagons. We intervened to solve the
problem. Actually we had to send our railway coaches to Machipanda Border Post
to assist the Mozambican side to bring the wheat straight to Harare. Obviously,
there was a minor snag. As we speak now, our coaches are at National Foods and
Grain Millers (Association), so we are trying our best to ensure that there is
continued supply of wheat by engaging our counterparts in Mozambique,” said
Minister Matiza.
Last week GMAZ chairman Mr Tafadzwa
Musarara said they had started receiving
the 30 000 tonnes of wheat imported recently and millers who had temporarily
closed shop due to the unavailability of the cereal were now expected to resume
operations.
The wheat was secured by GMAZ on an
instalment prepayment arrangement. The wheat landed at Beira, Mozambique,
recently.
It was released after the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe paid the balance owed to Holbud’s, a Lithuanian company.
He said wheat was competing with
fertiliser imports and this had delayed its delivery as the National Railways
of Zimbabwe was overwhelmed.
Mr Musarara said if the NRZ had been
bringing in 40 wagons a day, it would take 10 days for the situation to
normalise. “We are ready to supply the market and all we need to supply is in
place and the only challenge is with the NRZ. We hope NRZ improves,” he said.
Herald
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