THE “Zimbabwe
is open for business” mantra has restored investor confidence with some
American companies defying the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of
2001 (Zidera), a US sanctions law, to
invest here, President Mnangagwa said yesterday.
Addressing up
to 50 000 students, young businesspeople, miners, artists, churches and the
disabled during the Zanu-PF Youth League Convention at an open ground behind
Mkoba Teachers’ College along Hamutyinei Road in Gweru, President Mnangagwa
said an American company, General Electric, has shown interest in investing
$5,2 billion in the 2 400MW Batoka Gorge Hydroelectric Power project between
Zimbabwe and Zambia – a development he said will result in more electricity on
the national grid.
He said once
the deal materialises in about four years, fuel and electricity supply
challenges bedevilling the country will be history.
President
Mnangagwa said the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra is paying dividends
as Harare had managed to attract foreign direct investment to the tune of over
$16 billion in the past six months.
“As the
industries are recovering, as electricity is being produced we believe that in
the next five years according to our programme we will have over 2 000MW of
electricity that will come on the national grid. We have Batoka alone, Batoka
Gorge, I must say this to you, Americans have Zidera sanctions but we now have
a big American company that has come in to do Batoka Gorge at $5, 2 billion. We
asked them how they are going to do it when there is Zidera and they said the
(Donald) Trump administration is giving them a blind eye. So things are
changing. So we have written a letter to our Zambian counterparts because for
it to go ahead it needs Zambia to agree.
“Batoka has 2
400MW of which half goes to Zambia and the other half to us. The other 600MW is
coming from Hwange and we have other minor programmes. So at the end of three
years we have an excess of 2 000MW coming on to the grid which will be in
excess of the electricity demand we want in the country,” he said.
Zanu-PF youth
conference gweru
President
Mnangagwa said the construction of 1,2 million houses in the country was
possible as the Government had attracted foreign investment into the
infrastructural development sector since it could not go it alone.
He called on
party supporters to vote for the ruling party so that it has a new five year
mandate to govern and ensure that its pro-development projects come to pass.
“We have agreed
that the next five years when we have put our own Government after July 30, the
next five years going forward we have programmes we have put down to improve
housing.
“We are saying
during the coming five years we want to build 1, 2 million houses in five
years. Some are saying it’s impossible but it’s possible because you will have
not only Government but we are attracting foreign companies who are willing to
invest in houses because houses pay for themselves. So we will need to have
housing projects in every city in Zimbabwe from January to December,” said the
President.
President
Mnangagwa said fuel supply shortages that have affected some parts of the
country in recent weeks will in the near future be overcome.
“With regards
to fuel, we have some problems but we signed an agreement for coal-bed methane
[development] in Lupane starting in August. It produces fertiliser, fuel and
electricity. After four years of that project alone, we will be able to produce
eight million litres of fuel and this country only consumes five million per
year which means we will be having excess of fuel after four years in this
country. That same project will be giving us about 1 200MW of electricity and
enough fertilizer from coal-bed methane. This country is rich.
“We have enough
gold; this year we’re reaching 28 to 30 (tonnes) and next year we will reach 90
tonnes of gold and this means we will employ hundreds and thousands of people.
It takes time for this to be felt by everybody but you can now feel that we are
free and truly Zimbabweans and we are amongst ourselves as comrades as a
party,” he said.
An idea of the
Zanu-PF Youth League, the convention saw youths from the country’s 10 provinces
articulating their social and economic issues which President Mnangagwa
responded to. Chronicle
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