PERUVIAN President Alberto Fujimori has announced that the railway operations of Empresa Minera del Centro de Peru will be handed over to the state railway company Enafer. This will include the 212 km standard-gauge network and rolling stock, apart from yard operations servicing the smelters and foundry, which will remain part of the mining business. No date has been set for the transfer, which will be managed by the recently-formed Commission for the Promotion of Private Industry.
COPRI has also been instructed to prepare proposals for the privatisation of Enafer, for which the government intends to invite bids in October or November. COPRI has awarded a US$1·5m contract to Mercer Consulting of the USA to assist with the privatisation. The government has decided to keep control of the 914mm gauge Huancayo - Huancavelica line, which is loss-making but provides the only link to a remote region with no roads.
In preparation for the sale, COPRI has ranked Enafer’s three networks by condition of the assets, with the 185 km Sur-Oriente narrow-gauge line between Cuzco and Quillabamba rated as three star. The 508 km Central Railway from Lima is given two stars, and the Southern Railway just one star. The Southern network will be offered with the port of Matarani as an integrated business, and will also include the isolated Tacna - Arica railway crossing the Chilean border.
Enafer has already reduced its workforce from 5000 to 1500 in preparation for privatisation. Rolling stock maintenance, apart from day-to-day loco servicing, has been contracted out, mainly to former railway workshop staff who have been made redundant. o
