Investment agency should spread wings to provinces
THE newly formed Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) will need to decentralise operations to provinces to attract more investment to local communities.
In fact, for such an important developmental tool, having a foot print in every part of the country will ensure equitable development in the provinces.
ZIDA should be viewed as a crucial part of the devolution process which strives to ensure that grassroots communities are empowered to make decisions on opportunities they can exploit to enhance the developmental agenda.
Many of such opportunities are likely to end up on the ZIDA desk as the provinces strive to attract investors to help them implement certain projects.
This requires that ZIDA has some operations in the provinces to give advice and help with the attraction of investors to the outlying areas.
The devolution agenda will mainly be anchored on the need to exploit local resources for the production of goods and services that can help uplift communities.
The fact remains that many of the provinces lack the capacity to fully exploit such resources, and they will need to attract investors who will bring with them the needed implements to exploit the abundant resources.
ZIDA is already empowered by the attendant law to oversee the national investment sector, and this should apply to investment that comes through the provinces.
What this means is that there should be a close working relationship between the investment agency and those driving the devolution agenda in the provinces. Mining projects, for example, will always demand that heavy equipment and new technologies be deployed to extract the mineral resources.
Such equipment might not be readily available locally, or Government could be limited in terms of providing financial resources to obtain them.
The coming in of investors could be the answer to some of these issues that have the potential to inhibit the efficiency implementing of the devolution concept.
What is important is to ensure that fair deals that benefit the country, while encouraging the investors to continue coming, are itched. In the past, there have been complaints on what appeared to be deals that were being easily exploited by foreign investors to their favour at the expense of the country.
This was because some of the deals, especially in the old dispensation were viewed as opaque and not beneficial to the local communities.
ZIDA should be able to clear all these issues, as the agency has the mandate to oversee all investment deals and direct how investors operate in the country. The involvement of ZIDA in the provincial investment affairs under devolution will ensure the elimination of corruption, which has potential to drive away prospective investors.
The scrutiny of investment deals will need a body dedicated to the work, and having ZIDA provincial offices will bring the agency nearer to the action for quick assistance when the need arises.
Investment promotion has always been client-oriented which requires good relations with the potential investor, who always demand a top notch service. An organisation dedicated to such a demanding job like ZIDA can easily execute the task in the provinces for the benefit of the country.
What is important about ZIDA is that it eliminated multiple players in the investment sector, leaving all matters to do with investors, be they local or foreign, to be managed from offices of a single agency.
As the country moves forward, the greater competition for economic growth among the provinces will make investment the watch word under devolution.
Anchoring the provincial development on attracting investment will ensure a quick growth, as the provinces fully exploit their areas of potential for the benefit of local communities.
Hence, ZIDA should not be maintained at the national level alone, it should be visible on the sub-national level to ensure closeness to those who are likely to exploit its expertise more.
As the country pursues the devolution developmental concept, it is clear that while central Government has done all it can to kick-start the process, it will not be able to get enough finance capital and import appropriate technologies for the development of regions.
It is because of this reality that the different regions should be encouraged to start scouting for both local and foreign investments to ensure they start from a strong footing. What is needed is to start opening up for such investments, which ultimately should be managed by ZIDA and its offices in different parts of the country.
Provinces should start developing good reputations for hosting foreign investors, but this calls for those responsible to come up with innovative ideas that quickly attract attention.
Ideas that work should be scaled up and strengthened to ensure they are perfect enough to continue attracting more investors to the local level.
There is no doubt that Zimbabwe needs a sharp increase in both domestic investment and foreign direct investment and that the responsibility to ensure that investment comes now lies with ZIDA, the one-stop shop investment centre that should enhance the ease of doing business for investors.
Investors need proper incentives and guarantees that are spelt out clearly to avoid situations where they are not sure on how they will proceed in terms of their benefits.
Foreign investors, for example, will first need to know how they can repatriate their profits to their homes before they enter into any deals.
ZIDA should be able to deal with these concerns as provided for in the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Act, which mandates the agency to oversee such matters.
What is important is to balance between what can be taken out of the country and the benefits that should accrue for the development of the country.
The ZIDA Act repealed the Zimbabwe Investment Authority Act, the Special Economic Zones Act and the Joint Ventures Act, all which were separately dealing with investors.
It brings the work done by these institutions under one roof and establishes a One-Stop Shop Investment Services Centre that will solely be responsible for dealing with investors.
Other organisations that are responsible for issuing various licences to investors, including relevant Government ministries and parastatals, will have desks at the ZIDA offices.
ZIDA’s functions are broad in the investment sector, hence the need for the agency to spread its wings to all parts of the country.
It is tasked with carrying out deliberate efforts through various means to promote, plan and implement investment promotion strategies for the purpose of encouraging investment by both domestic and foreign investors.
The agency is also mandated to implement and coordinate investment programmes and investment promotion related activities in the country.
Zimbabwe needs to increase investment flows into the country to enhance the developmental agenda and help fulfil Vision 2030 of creating an upper middle income economy.
According to the World Investment Report, foreign direct investment was stagnant at US$400 million between 2010 and 2013.
In 2018, the country recorded foreign direct investment inflows of US$745 million, up from US$349 million in 2017. Last year, the inflows declined further to US$280 million.
◆ lchikovahh@yahoo.com