BUSINESS REPORTER
The Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) issued 126 new licences last year to projects valued at US$1.5bn, the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda said yesterday, amid increased investor interest.
In total 228 licences were issued inclusive of 102 renewals.
Mining was the most preferred with 44 licences followed by manufacturing with 27, Sibanda said at the ZIDA engagement strategy input forum yesterday.
“These sectors accounted for more than half (56%) of all new licenses issued in 2021. The total value of approved and licensed projects issued through ZIDA in 2021 was US$1.5billion,” he said.
Sibanda said while the World Bank-initiated ease of doing business reforms came to an end in 2020, Zimbabwe had adopted a sectoral approach.
The sectors given priority are exports, transport, agriculture and issues that deal with doing business in Zimbabwe, he said.
Sibanda appealed to ZIDA to continue to contribute to the continued improvement on timelines to receive and process investor applications and provide continuous after care, that will create an almost seamless platform that allows investors to be on boarded quickly into the country.
Tafadzwa Chinamo, ZIDA chief executive officer, said yesterday’s event was meant to solicit input from stakeholders to be incorporated into the agency’s strategy to attract investors.
“We decided that instead of us going away to craft a strategy to improve investment into the country from foreign and domestic investors, let’s hear from the stakeholders that we engage. We have got a lot of foreign investors, domestic investors, embassies, media, labour and government agencies. We want to find out from them what it is that we should be focusing on to make Zimbabwe an attractive and workable investment destination,” Chinamo.
