The Zimbabwean steelmaking unit of Chinese metals giant Tsingshan Holding Group has signed a landmark partnership deal with the National Railways of Zimbabwe to expand coal and steel haulage, in a major boost for the country’s struggling rail network and industrial ambitions.
The agreement, signed on Monday at Manhize, will see Tsingshan’s Dinson Steel Company haul 1.1 million tonnes of coal from Hwange a distance of about 600 kilometres and transport 600,000 tonnes of steel products from its plant to markets in Zimbabwe and the region .
A TRANSFORMATIVE DEAL FOR ZIMBABWE’S RAIL NETWORK
The deal includes a $27 million upgrade of the 80-kilometre track between Gweru and Mvuma, followed by the construction of a 50-kilometre rail link connecting Mvuma to the Dinson steel plant under a build-operate-transfer model. Grand Railway Solutions, a subsidiary of the Dinson Group, will fund the construction, transfer it to NRZ, and recover its costs through offsets .
Grand Railway Solutions will provide locomotives, wagons, and fuel, while NRZ will contribute existing infrastructure and train crews.
“This deal is set to significantly increase annual tonnage for NRZ, while at the same time transferring the bulk of coal traffic from Hwange from road to rail,” NRZ said in a statement.
REVIVING A COLLAPSED RAIL SYSTEM
The partnership comes at a critical time for Zimbabwe’s rail operator, which has struggled for years due to chronic under-investment. NRZ’s freight volumes have collapsed from a peak of 12 million tonnes in the 1990s to just 2 million tonnes in 2025.
NRZ Acting Chief Executive Officer Ainah Dube-Kaguru said the agreement represented an important opportunity to rebuild the railway operator’s freight business around the growing industrial activity at Manhize. She recalled the railway’s historical role in supporting Zimbabwe’s steel industry: “We remembered our Zisco Steel then. The traffic we were moving for Zisco Steel, it was so much coal. Over 500,000 tonnes from Hwange”.
Dube-Kaguru said NRZ could immediately begin moving coal and coke from Hwange using the existing Hwange-Gweru line, with the Mvuma-Gweru section requiring rehabilitation before full capacity is achieved.
DISCO: AN INDUSTRIAL HUB IN THE MAKING
Dinson Iron and Steel Company, which began production in 2024, is positioning itself as an anchor customer for NRZ and a catalyst for Zimbabwe’s industrial revival. The $1 billion steel plant currently produces approximately 600,000 tonnes of steel annually, double Zimbabwe’s national requirement of 300,000 tonnes .
Under Phase 2, production is expected to reach 1.2 million tonnes by 2030, with long-term ambitions of reaching 5 million tonnes annually and becoming Africa’s largest integrated steel plant .
Dinson CEO Benson Xu described the steel plant as more than a factory: “DISCO is not only a steel plant; it is an industrial heart, a centre of production, processing, value addition, and export. For that heart to succeed, reliable, efficient, and competitive rail logistics are essential”.
The company has already created over 2,000 direct jobs and approximately 6,000 indirect jobs, transforming the rural Manhize area into a growing industrial hub.
FROM ROAD TO RAIL
Dinson currently relies heavily on road transport to move coal from Hwange, as well as limestone, ferrochrome, and lithium from other operations. The new rail partnership is expected to significantly reduce logistics costs and ease pressure on Zimbabwe’s road infrastructure.
“We have been transporting our raw materials and finished products by road, which is a costly operation. The railway will allow us to move larger volumes more efficiently and at a lower cost, while also reducing pressure on the roads,” said Dinson Project Manager Wilfred Motsi.
The agreement also opens opportunities for other bulk commodity producers to shift cargo from road to rail. GRS Director Linos Masimura said: “The ultimate aim is to have enough rolling stock to move coal, coke, steel and other minerals”.
BROADER ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
The rail deal aligns with Zimbabwe’s National Development Strategy 2, which aims to increase national rail freight from about 2.5 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes by 2030.
Matabeleland North Permanent Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Sithandiwe Ndumo Ncube, said the agreement would strengthen infrastructure supporting industrial production and access to export markets: “This agreement is significant for the industrialisation of the Midlands and Zimbabwe because it strengthens the infrastructure required to move raw materials, support production and take value-added products to export markets”.
The development also advances Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030, which seeks to transform the country into an empowered and prosperous upper-middle-income economy through industrialisation, value addition, and infrastructure development.