By ETimes
The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has been on a drive to restructure its operations in order to derive more benefit from its assets lying around the country.
According to the company’s public relations manager Andrew Kunambura said the company is currently drafting contracts and leases with its clients in order to derive benefit from its properties.
The public relations personnel said as NRZ they have a huge portfolio which was very much underutilized consisting of arable land, building properties which was valued US$345 million by a private real estate agent in October 2022.
“Respina Zinyanduko the general manager made a deliberate and efficient decision in order to make sure that we derive benefit from this big investment and to date we are realizing US$600 000 per month in terms of rentals from leasing out these properties,” Kunambura said.
The NRZ Real Estate subsidiary which runs these properties is a separate investment portfolio under NRZ.
In order to ensure that when operations are down NRZ can be able to procure spares and other critical components to run trains it was wise for them to tap into money raised from leasing our buildings.
“Some lease our buildings, some our arable land and some run safaris which is a very wise decision since previously they were being invaded by barons and other users. So the new management has made sure to craft proper lease agreements and people legally occupy these properties and pay rentals.
“Through these initiatives we are targeting to collect at least US$1 million in rentals per month and leases on lend and the target is very much attainable if we normalize things as we are working to assure,” Kunambura said.
The changes come as the NRZ Pension Fund seeks to list its Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) as a way to unlock value from its properties.
The listing of the REIT – Revitus REIT will enable the pension fund to raise capital for refurbishing of its properties across the country’s major cities.
This comes as the real estate sector is witnessing a significant transformation with businesses migrating from central business district (CBD) office space to office parks and suburban offices that are modern, cozy and are in line with emerging trends.
“The NRZ Pension Fund are the promoters of the Revitus REIT, which is a licensed REIT. We are currently working on listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in the first quarter of 2023,” said NRZ Pension Fund board chairman Takunda Madanha.
The NRZ Pension Fund is one of the largest owners of properties in Zimbabwe, mainly high rise properties in the CBDs- Harare