Investment bill to be gazetted in 2-3 weeks
THE Zimbabwe Investment Development Authority Bill (Zida) is set to be gazetted within the next few weeks.
The merging of the country’s investment entities mooted in May 2018 is inspired by the Rwandan model which has impressive investment proposal processing turnover of just 24 hours.
Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda told ZBCtv:
“The bill is now within the National Assembly and is expected to be gazetted within the next two to three weeks before its tabling in the august house.”
An interim committee of the one-stop investment services centre in the Office of the President and Cabinet is working as a precursor to the envisaged investment vehicle and has been critical in negotiating a $1 billion deal with a United States of America private equity firm, Honduis Capital, clinched last year.
It is hoped that a fully fledged investment centre will scale back on issues of bureaucracy and lethargy that have stalled investments.
Along with reducing Government expenditure, the one stop investment vehicle will be a critical platform to increasing focus on investment in Zimbabwe.
Over the years previous attempts to create a One-Stop-Shop investment centre were scuttled by lack of commitment by some departments, which sent junior officers to make critical investment decisions.
This time around, there is optimism that moves to bring the key departments that provide services to investors would be successful given the invaluable knowledge obtained from interactions with Rwandan experts.
The Government also wants to harmonise investment laws so as to reduce bureaucracy and cut the cost of doing business in the country.
Zimbabwe has several laws governing investments, a set-up which increases the cost of investment given that statutory fees have to be paid in fulfilment of the laws.
Some of the laws governing investment are the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (Chapter 14:30); the Immigration Act (Chapter 4:02); Companies Act (Chapter 24:03); the Environment Management Act (Chapter 20:27) and the Exchange Control Act.
Other laws are the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority Act; the Special Economic Zones Act; and Joint Ventures Act. — ZBCtv/Business Chronicle