The Sunday Mail
Kuda Bwititi – Chief Reporter
CHINESE conglomerate CITIC Group is negotiating multi-billion-dollar investment deals with Government, showing Zimbabwe can attract multi-national corporations to invest in the economy.
CITIC — with a net worth of US$50 billion — has tabled investment projects and is also involved in construction of a new capital city in Mt Hampden.
Some of the deals include construction of a railway line from Mt Hampden to Beira in Mozambique, dualisation of the Harare-Beitbridge Highway, and investments in agriculture, mining, energy and tourism.
CITIC Construction vice-president Mr Liu Guigen is in Zimbabwe to negotiate the deals and there are plans for meetings with Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa and other high-level Government officials.
Chinese Embassy economic and commercial counsellor Mr Nui Pengbo said: “Negotiations between CITIC and the Zimbabwe Government are ongoing. I can confirm that CITIC Construction vice-president Mr Liu Guigen is visiting the country to discuss more about the deals.
“At this state, however, CITIC does not want to reveal much because negotiations are on-going and they are at a sensitive stage.”
Apart from Mr Liu, other CITIC officials have been in the country for three weeks as they seek to open a local office.
Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Dr Obert Mpofu said: “I can confirm that negotiations with that Chinese company have started. My technical team is working on those deals and once they have done their work they will present it to me for my consideration. So it is work in progress.”
Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees Minister Chris Mutsvangwa said the projects could run into billions of US dollars.
Minister Mutsvangwa, a former Ambassador to China, said: “The beauty of it all is that we are now getting investment instead of loans.
“Loans do not build an economy; that is a pipe dream. Modern economies are built from attracting investment and FDI. This is why the CITIC deals are very important.
“What it means is that other investors of similar repute will also be attracted to Zimbabwe. So this could be the start of big things, where as a country we endear ourselves to the big league of investors.
“CITIC is a big signal to all the other economic players that yes we can work with Zimbabwe. The most important thing is that the money that we are in need of is not an issue to these investors. All they want is guarantee that the projects that they will be embarking on are profitable because as investors they also want to make money.”
Once sealed, the projects offered by CITIC herald a new era of economic development which is a shift from relying on loans to FDI.
CITIC, recently snapped a 3 percent stake, worth US$6 billion, in Anglo-America. It has a solid presence in several countries including Angola, Brazil, Venezuela, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and South Africa.
