Japan gives Zambia US$6.3 million to buy machines for repairing railway track

Japan has agreed to give Zambia a grant of about US$6.3 million, equal to 999 million Japanese yen, to buy equipment for maintaining the country's railway lines. The agreement was signed at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning in Lusaka on Thursday 22 October, through an exchange of notes between Finance and National Planning Minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane and Japan's Ambassador to Zambia, Mikami Akiteru. It falls under Japan's 2026 Grant Aid Project for the Economic and Social Development Programme. The money will buy machines made by Japanese companies, among them crane-equipped motor cars and road-rail crane trucks that can travel both on ordinary roads and on railway tracks. Officials say the equipment will be used to maintain and rehabilitate the track and systems of Zambia Railways. The signing was attended by the Secretary to the Treasury, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, and senior officials from the government and the Japanese Embassy. Mr Musokotwane said the support came "at a critical time when Zambia is intensifying efforts to revitalise the Zambia railway subsector." He told the ceremony that a country of about 21 million people, most of them with low buying power, has to rely on exports to grow, and that reliable and affordable transport is needed to compete with other countries selling in the same markets. He tied the grant to the Grow Zambia Agenda and to the aim of making Zambia a regional transport and logistics hub. Ambassador Akiteru said, "Railways are vital infrastructure for economic and social development." He said the project would support the use of Zambia's transport corridors, including the Nacala Corridor, and help move natural resources more efficiently. He added that Japan has built its railway technology over many decades and that its systems are known for safety, punctuality and efficiency. The grant follows President Hakainde Hichilema's official working visit to Japan in February 2