The Sunday Mail
Sharon Munjenjema
Zimbabwe continues to explore all avenues to stimulate economic growth through trade and will use its membership to the International Maritime Organisation to contract ships to ferry export and import goods, thereby penetrating more markets at a low cost.
It has been established that Government has begun crafting the Merchant Shipping Bill that will provide for the establishment of an open merchant ship registry, to enable the country access coasts and contract ships.
The legislation will also back up the country in dealing with coastal neighbouring countries and allow Zimbabwean flag-bearing merchant ships to operate at their ports.
In an interview, Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza said running of merchant ships would contribute towards improving the country’s revenue base.
“If we penetrate the coasts, this will mean we will have more opportunities in terms of trade, income generation and employment,” he said.
“We will use the countries that have coasts like South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia. This will also mean we can procure oil from source countries and transport it on our own and have our people doing business in the seas.
“Right now, we are dealing with the legislative framework so that we can be able to do this. It (the Bill) should be brought to Parliament soon.”
Zimbabwe has been a member of the International Maritime Organisation since 2005, and holds a lease of a dry port facility at Walvis Bay in Namibia.
Merchant ships are required, by international law, to be registered to a registry of a country of their choice.
The ship is then bound to carry the flag of that State.
Minister Matiza said merchant ships were responsible for moving at least 90 percent of the worlds’ goods, hence Zimbabwe also needed to tap into the mode of transport to enjoy the low costs associated with it.
Economist Dr Gift Mugano commended the initiative adding that Zimbabwe stood to benefit in terms of trade.
“Government is countering setbacks of being a landlocked country. When you do not have access to the seas, there can be difficulties in trade facilitation,” he said.
“Time factor in exports and imports is also important. We must remember that last year there were problems in the shipment of wheat, which resulted in bread shortages.
“When we have access to ships we have a guarantee of supply of goods and less delays.”
Meanwhile, Minister Matiza said his ministry was making conceited efforts to restore the road network and infrastructure in area affected by Cyclone Idai, especially Chimanimani and Chipinge.
He said works on temporary roads to grant access to affected areas were now 98 percent done.
“The process is two faced. We did temporary accesses to allow food and relief to get to the needy areas where the actual infrastructure was destroyed,” he said.
“That in itself needed a lot of money to repair. We looked for temporary access to that and its now almost 98 percent complete.
“We now need to move to the actual infrastructure and repair it to the standard it was before and that is what we are looking at now. We have donors and the international community that are coming forward to contribute to that,” he said
Minister Matiza said funds permitting, all reconstructions in Manicaland should be completed within a year.
