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Senior Reporter
A DELEGATION from the Chinese government met President Mugabe at State House in Harare yesterday and pledged investment worth “several billions of dollars” in capital projects that will result in major economic take-off.The Herald is reliably informed that Chinese companies China International Fund and Singapore OKP Group intend to build two power plants each with a 350-megawatt capacity to ease current electricity challenges.

Another Chinese company, Baoda Petroleum Corporation, will invest in petroleum refinery in an estimated US$10 billion investment. The companies intend to produce petrochemicals and fertiliser to boost the agriculture sector.

Other Chinese firms also intend to build a water pipeline from the Zambezi River to Bulawayo in a move set to ease perennial water shortages in the country’s second largest city — the industrial hub that was yearning for development for years.

Huatai Automobile, another Chinese company, pledged to build a vehicle assembly plant while other businesses from the world’s second largest economy are targeting the rehabilitation of roads, railways and national housing projects. The Chinese investments come against the backdrop of peaceful and democratic elections resoundingly won by Zanu-PF.

Zimbabwe and China are all-weather friends with their relations dating back to the days of the liberation struggle.