One-stop investment facility imminent
ZIMBABWE’S drive to become an investment “destination of choice” is gathering momentum, with Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu saying a one-stop investment centre (OSIC) will soon be set up to speedily process investor enquiries.
The OSIC would operate under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency.
In a recent interview, Minister Ndlovu said: “. . . I also introduced the principles of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency. This an agency which is meant to be our one-stop investment centre.”
Government says it has received “numerous complaints” from several potential investors that say the process of setting up a business in the country was tedious. Minister Ndlovu said the national mantra adopted since November 24 last year that “Zimbabwe is open for business” requires a seamless investment process, particularly in age when nations are stampeding for investors.
“As we are opening up for business, we need to bear in mind that there is competition for investment across Africa, across the world, and it is how you welcome them, it is how you create an investment climate that makes it easy for them to invest.
“We want to make Zimbabwe an investment destination of choice (so) this agency (the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency) will be specifically tasked with ensuring that the ease of doing business is not just rhetoric, but we see it happening.
“How much time does it take to get an investment licence, what is the cost of complying with all the regulations that are there; all these things have to be revealed and that agency has to be charged with those,” said Minister Ndlovu.
Government launched the One-Stop-Shop Investment Centre in December 2010 but it failed to operate optimally as some key departments did not send representatives. This resulted in continued delays regards processing investor applications.
A number of countries such as Rwanda and Botswana have one-stop-shop investment centres, which have allowed them to process investor enquiries in a few hours’ time. But since President Mnangagwa’s swearing-in ceremony last November, investors have been flooding the country and statistics from the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) show that $16 billion worth of investment approvals were made in the first half of this year.
The approvals figure is the biggest since independence from Britain in 1980.
Top global firms such as United States’ General Electric, Enel Italy which manufactures and distributes electricity and gas, Anhui Foreign Economic Corporation (AFECC), China State Engineering Company Limited and China Railway Number 3 Engineering Group, are some of the companies that are seeking investment opportunities in infrastructure development project such as energy and roads.
Minister Ndlovu said both local and foreign investors are critical in helping the country achieve the middle economy status where per capita income would be $3 500 per year. Further, investment in the revival of the manufacturing sector required to ensure the country conserves the little foreign currency available. Minister Ndlovu said industry is picking up, with capacity utilisation growing.
He said some of the challenges being faced by industry in particularly, and the economy in gen- eral, such as foreign currency, are a result of the good performance of the economy.
“I was discussing with (Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Sifelani) Jabangwe that we have become victims of our own success and there is increased demand to import raw materials, to import spares and so on. We have to do more exports, we have to focus on those companies that are export oriented (to address the challenges).
“If these (export-oriented) companies are given the sort of assistance they need, which is not much by the way, and they get assistance policy wise, they are able to change their operations in the next six months,” said Minister Ndlovu.
Mr Jabangwe told The Herald Business recently that the manufacturing sector is performing well, with production levels rising 20 percent so far this year compared to the same period last year.