Zim to support Moza ports project
ZIMBABWE will seek support for the construction of a new port in Mozambique to serve the country when President Mnangagwa visits China sometime this year.
Speaking during a wide ranging press briefing at the ruling Zanu PF party headquarters in Harare yesterday, national spokesperson Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa said a number of ports are under development in Beira, Mozambique, in anticipation of increased exports from Zimbabwe on the back of improved economic activity.
“You will be happy to know there will be two new terminals being built in Beira by a big investor who is in Zimbabwe which is Tsingshan (Holding Group), the global steel company,” he said.
“There is a new port 40km north of Beira which is being designed and hopefully this year when the President (Mnangagwa) goes to China we may get more support from China for the building of a new port in Mozambique because the viability of the ports is justified by the economic activity which Zanu PF and President Mnangagwa are gendering, no longer will it be necessary for Zimbabweans to go 2 000km away to Durban and you can imagine the inflation factor which it is causing.”
Tsingshan Holding group is behind the development of the Manhize steel plant, through its subsidiary, Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco).
Ambassador Mutsvangwa said reforms made in the mining sector brought big ticket miners that have converted rural areas into mining areas resulting in the birth of the Manhize steel plant and lithium plants around the country by other world class companies.
This has in turn created resources needed in factories in urban areas as urban areas begin catching up on rural areas production as a result of President Mnangagwa’s Government reforms and economic agenda.
“It means the multiplier effect of the economic impact of the President’s economic agenda is going to see more prosperity being delivered to the people of Zimbabwe and we see it in the way our neighbour Mozambique is beginning to invest in the logistical outlets which traditionally have been the mainstay of Mozambican ports, Beira in particular,” he said.
He said Zimbabwe’s eastern neighbour had recently renovated its railway system up to Machipanda near the border city of Mutare in anticipation of the increased traffic from Zimbabwe to the ports in Beira.
Mutsvangwa said transporting a container from New York in the United States to Durban in South Africa would require about US$1 000 and about US$3 000 by road from Durban to Harare with the onerous logistics making Zimbabwean goods uncompetitive.
“President Mnangagwa is reversing that, we are going to Beira, it’s only 300km from Mutare and that again has a multiplier, a feel good factor in the economy of Zimbabwe, you see the economic picture which is emerging from a focused President ED Mnangagwa,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.
He said all these developments are registering in quarters which previously were averse to seeing any progress in Zimbabwe, insisting progress will only be achieved when opposition leader Nelson Chamisa and his CCC party took over the country.
These include the Bretton Woods institution, the World Bank which has accepted that the Zimbabwean economy is performing better than others in the region.
Cde Mutsvangwa said former American ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, had also recently written an article in which he stated that Zimbabwe is on its way to becoming the industrial hub of Africa.
Instead of complaining about the presence of the Chinese in Zimbabwe, he said the Americans need to come forward and engage the Zimbabwean authorities and exploit the available business opportunities.
Ambassador Mutsvangwa said President Mnangagwa was more interested in business people that can secure more money on world stock exchanges instead of the World Bank and IMF. - New Ziana.