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Herald Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) has streamlined the number of days required to approve new businesses in the country from 30 to seven days, which has seen the country registering a 35,5 percent increase in investments to US$1,836 billion in the first half of the year.

This is on the back of initiatives instituted by the Second Republic to retain and attract investors in different economic sectors where various projects, new and existing, are at various stages of development.

As Zimbabwe negotiates the tail end of the maze of bottlenecks laid in its way over nearly two decades of meltdown, isolation and Western economic embargo, there is no denying the Government has successfully laid a firm foundation, including through massive investments in key infrastructure and enablers, to touch off rapid economic growth going forward.

 Chief executive Tafadzwa Chinamo said ZIDA will continue to contribute to the improvement of timelines to receive and process investor applications and provide continuous aftercare, which will create an almost seamless platform that allows investors to be onboarded quickly into the country.

ZIDA is a statutory body established after the enactment of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency Act, which was signed into law in February 2020.

The agency’s main mandate is to promote and protect investment in the country in line with President Mnangagwa’s administration’s policy thrust of economic diplomacy.

Prior to the establishment of ZIDA, the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) was the institution charged with investment promotion, but its success was limited by the fact that the approval authority was not exactly centralised under one roof.

The ZIA Act repealed the Export Processing Zone Act, which was a legal instrument governing the operations of the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) established in 1987 through an Act of Parliament.

Some of the equipment for the Dinson Iron and Steel Company in Manhize

While addressing media stakeholders in Harare last week, ZIDA chief facilitator Mr Never Nyemudzo said the streamlining of time required to register a business, under the One Stop Shop Investment Services Centre is part of the ongoing interventions to attract investment into the country.

In this context, he said ZIDA has amalgamated services of over 18 Government departments to ensure timeous consultations and approval of business licences.

“Looking back, our lead times from point of application to approval used to be 21 days plus, but it is now seven days.

“When you come to make contact with ZIDA, it means you have gotten in contact with the whole Government machinery,” he was quoted as saying.

He said the agency planned to launch a self-service investment portal in the second half of this year.

Through the planned online portal, Mr Nyemudzo said the country’s investment approval time was expected to decline further to three days.

As of June 30, 2023,  ZIDA had issued permits for projects in different sectors under the Special Economic Zones initiative.

Such projects include the Karo Zimbabwe Holdings platinum project in Darwendale, and the Arcadia Lithium project in Goromonzi where Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe has commissioned a US$300 million processing plant.

The Belmont-Kelvin-Donnington-Westondale industrial sites in Bulawayo have also been designated SEZs areas, as well as the Umvumila Industrial Park also in Bulawayo.

Further, a ferrochrome project undertaken by Afrochine Smelting in Selous near Chegutu, the Norton Business Park, Nkonyeni Agriculture Hub in Mazowe, the Fernhill project in Mutare (for urban development), Masuwe project in Victoria Falls (for the establishment of a tourism and financial services hub in the tourism city), have been accorded similar status.

ZIDA is also looking to grant the US$1,5 billion Dinson Iron and Steel Company’s steel plant SEZ status.

Following the coming into power of the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa in November 2017, the Government adopted the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra with a view to attract investment in various sectors of the economy.

The Government has also been on an engagement and re-engagement offensive with the international community marketing the country as an attractive investment destination after close to two decades of international isolation from the global village.In its 2023 second-quarter report, ZIDA indicated that of the US$1,836 billion investments so far in 2023, foreign contribution was US$1,757 billion while local contribution stood at US$78,103 million.

The issued investment licences were for investors from countries that include America, Australia, Britain, Canada, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, China and Spain among others.

And in the second quarter of this year, the agency facilitated the development of the regulations for the Special Economic Zones and general investments such as the Base Minerals Export Control Amendment, which has banned the export of unprocessed lithium to encourage beneficiation.

A section of the multimillion dollar plant built by Huayou Cobalt at Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s Arcadia Mine in Goromonzi

ZIDA also signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding with ZimTrade and APIEX of Mozambique to enhance trade and investment between Zimbabwe and the neighbouring country.

Further, ZIDA managed to sign a collaboration agreement with the Confederation of Zimbabwean Industries to enable advocacy and information sharing with the private sector.

In the first six months of 2022, Zimbabwe’s total investment amounted to US$1,355 billion with a foreign contribution of US$1,309 billion while local contribution was US$45,708 million.

In the six months to June 2023, the value of capital equipment from abroad (physical assets of a business, such as machinery, tools, and vehicles) was US $790,4 million compared to US$626,7 million in the half year period.

The agency also indicated that during the 2023 half-year period, Zimbabwe received a total of 287 investors compared to 187 recorded in the corresponding period in 2022, on account of better investment processing by ZIDA.

The investment licences approved by ZIDA were issued across all economic sectors — agriculture, construction, energy, manufacturing, mining, services, tourism, and transport.

During that period, the mining sector recorded the highest number of investors at 130 followed by the services sector at 62, manufacturing (55), energy (12), construction (11), agriculture (8) transport, and tourism seven and two, respectively.

Last year during the corresponding period, the mining industry registered 47 investors followed by the services sector with 25, manufacturing (20), agriculture (8), transport (3), tourism (2), construction, and energy one apiece.

According to Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) chief investment officer Silibaziso Chizwina, China, the second biggest economy in the world after the USA, now holds the number one spot in terms of foreign investment in Zimbabwe.

Ms Chizwina revealed during a recent Zimbabwe-China investment conference that ZIDA has 427 licensed Chinese companies in various sectors of the economy, making it the biggest source of foreign direct investment in the country.

Zimbabwe’s cooperation with China spans from infrastructure construction and mineral exploitation to investment and trade, and more is expected after this week’s business forum.

Chinese giants Sinomine Resource Group, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, and Chengxin Lithium Group have since 2022 acquired lithium mines and invested in projects worth a combined US$678 million in Zimbabwe, and are at various stages of developing mines. The two companies are also developing processing plants at the mines.

Another Chinese firm, steel giant Tsingshan Holding Group through its subsidiary, Dinson Iron and Steel Company, is building a US$1 billion steel-manufacturing plant that could turn Zimbabwe into one of Africa’s largest producers of iron and steel products.

The plant, which will be ready later this year, will initially produce 600 000 tonnes of steel a year and the production could double when it reaches full throttle.

Ms Chizwina said in 2023, US$295 million had come from Chinese investors.

Since the Second Republic came to power, another Chinese company,  Sinomine Resource Group, invested US$200 million to build a lithium plant at Bikita Minerals and expand existing operations after acquiring the company for US$180 million.

South Africa’s Tharisa Capital says its US$4,2 billion Karo Mining platinum project in Zimbabwe will place the group, which is targeting to become a multi-mine and multi-jurisdiction company, among the top 10 platinum producers globally, thanks to the Government’s pro-investment policies.

Last year, the Government partnered two Chinese investors,  Eagle Canyon International Group Limited and Pacific Goal Investment, for the development of the US$13 billion mine-to-energy industrial park in Mashonaland West province.