Steel Plant Under Zimbabwe's Tsingshan Launches Railway Capacity Expansion Cooperation

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 5, Dinson Steel Company, a subsidiary of China's Tsingshan Holding Group, signed a railway transport capacity cooperation agreement with the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) to expand railway transport of coal raw materials and steel products. Under the agreement, the railway system will transport 1.1 million tons of coal from Hwange to the Dinson steel plant over a distance of approximately 600 kilometers, while also transporting 600,000 tons of steel products from the steel plant to domestic and regional markets in Zimbabwe.

The agreement specifies the division of responsibilities for rolling stock, track, and operations. Grand Railway Solutions, a subsidiary of the Dinson Group, will provide locomotives, freight wagons, and fuel, while NRZ will be responsible for providing railway infrastructure and train crew. The cooperation addresses the transport needs at both ends of the Dinson steel plant—inbound raw materials and outbound finished products—with railway transport covering both coal input and steel output.

The track works include upgrading approximately 80 kilometers of existing railway between Gweru and Mvuma at a cost of approximately US$27 million; after completing this section, a new railway of approximately 50 kilometers is planned to directly connect Mvuma to the Dinson steel plant. The new line will adopt a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, with Grand Railway Services responsible for construction financing. Upon completion, the line will be transferred to NRZ, and construction costs will be recovered through subsequent fee deductions.

Dinson's steel project in central Zimbabwe began production in 2024. This railway agreement integrates its steel plant with the Hwange coal supply end as well as domestic and regional steel markets in Zimbabwe into a single railway transport system. At this stage, the annual coal transport volume, steel transport volume, scope of existing line upgrades, and new branch line model have been clearly defined.