Zim economy reawakening: ED

between Mutare, Harare and Plumtree and so on – something like 4 000 kilometres of roads internally which need to get either widened or dualised,” he said.

“I think you know (Finance Minister Patrick) Chinamasa doesn’t have the funds to fund all these projects, so we have given (Minister Joram) Gumbo the leeway to go for BOT (Build, Operate, Transfer) and PPPs, and he is busy doing that and there are so many roads now under bid.”

The Head of State and Government indicated that although the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) had taken delivery of 157 wagons and locomotives, the parastatal was still struggling to cope with the movement of cargo, which he said was a sign that the economy was beginning to respond.

Zimbabwe and Botswana, he said, had agreed to jointly fund the construction of a railway line linking Zimbabwe and the north of Beira.

President Mnangagwa said Government was crafting a new diamond industry policy to ensure that it gets the maximum possible benefit from the extraction of the resource.

“Investors can come and invest in any other mineral, except diamonds and platinum, where we are interested as the State,” he said. “We guard diamonds because we are crafting a diamond industry policy after looking at South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

“We had diamond production before, but we didn’t know how that industry works, so a lot of things happened in that area.”

Further, President Mnangagwa pledged to highten the investment drive when he visits China next month, where he has been invited by President Xi Jinping.

The President was accompanied by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Dr Sibusiso Moyo; Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development Minister Dr Mike Bimha and Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Dr Gumbo.