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Herald Reporters
The Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority (Zimseza) has declared a portion of Selous, covering areas with mining grants issued to platinum company, Karo Zimbabwe Holdings, as a special economic zone.

This was published under General Notice 1838 of 2019 published in last Friday’s Government Gazette by Zimseza chief executive officer Mr Edwin Kondo.

This brings to six the number of areas declared as SEZs after Victoria Falls, Beitbridge, Harare (Sunway City), Mutare and Norton got similar status.

“It is hereby notified that in terms of section 20(1) of the Special Economic Zones Act [Chapter 14:34], the Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority, has declared a portion of Selous measuring 50 667 hectares as a special economic zone,” said Mr Kondo.

“The zone is located on a certain piece of land covered by special mining grants issued to Karo Zimbabwe Holdings Private Limited.”

Mr Kondo said the area covered by the special economic zone would be available for inspection at the Zimseza offices in Harare between Monday and Friday other than a public holiday.

The gazetting of the new SEZ follows the extension of boundaries last month of Belmont, Donnington and Kelvin Special Economic Zones in Bulawayo to include the Westondale Industrial Area.

Government originally designated four areas as SEZs in Bulawayo as part of efforts to accelerate the revival of its industries which have been on a decline owing to a myriad of challenges over the last two decades.

The objective of the designation was to “restore the economy’s capacity to produce goods and services competitively to create economies of scale good enough for the locator of the proposed SEZs to be internationally competitive; to ensure inclusive growth emanating from the spread of growth nodes and diversified provincial offerings; to maximise the economic benefits of a given geographical location and its stakeholders and to attract more investment from the international world”.

The Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) Act was promulgated in 2016, while the regulations governing the zones were gazetted last year, to operationalise them.

Through this Act, SEZA was established to oversee and assist companies or investors keen to conduct business in these areas.

The main functions of the authority include administering and controlling SEZs, granting investment licences, and monitoring activities of approved investments.

The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) offers investment opportunities in the infrastructure development of utilities, development of solar power plants, textiles and leather processing.