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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
THE construction of the US$80 million Africa Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) Southern African Regional Office that began in Harare yesterday will assist Zimbabwe become an African trade hub and financial services centre, the bank’s director for administration, Dr Robert Tomusange, has said.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the complex was held yesterday at an event attended by senior Government officials, African diplomats and RBZ officials among others.
The building will be the second regional office after the one in Nigeria and will be a One-Stop-Shop geared towards the promotion of trade and related matters. The complex is situated at the vacant city block bounded by Herbert Chitepo Avenue, Oliver Tambo (Livingstone) Avenue, Seventh Street and Eighth Street, on the opposite side of the large Greenwood Park from Police General Headquarters.
It will be a green building and will offer built-up space of over 35 000 square metres which will house the Southern African Regional Office, the Bank’s contingency office, a world class hotel managed by an international hotel operator, a major conference and trade exhibition centre and a trade incubation centre for start-ups.
Dr Tomusange said the construction of the office will impact on the local economy through job creation with over 20 local entities being sub-contracted and a host of suppliers among several benefits.
“Beyond construction this trade centre will make Harare an intra-African trade hub for the Southern African region and we believe it will help to restore it as an important financial services centre in Africa and internationally,” he said.
Afreximbank established its office in Zimbabwe in 1997, the first outside office since the establishment of the Bank in 1993.
“Since then the partnership between the bank and the Southern African region has grown from strength to strength with significant milestones to expedite key strategies on trade information and trade services in Africa,” Dr Tomusange said.
“We believe that this development is going to signal to the world that Zimbabwe is indeed open for business. Given its modern and iconic standards, we believe that this building is going to attract a number of international financial institutions especially those with a trade finance value chain and other development agencies and partners to come to Harare and set up their African or regional headquarters situated within the same building with the regional office of the Afreximbank which is now the pre-eminent African trade institution that has established itself as the catalyst for Africa’s development.”
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Deputy Governor Dr Jesimen Chipika said the construction of the regional office in Zimbabwe was testimony of Zimbabwe’s efforts to improve the business environment.
“This development also testifies to our cordial relationship with Afreximbank and we hope the construction of the Regional Office will cement our existing relations.
“We are indebted to the Afrixembank which has availed funding, through various facilities to our economy and all Zimbabweans know how we have been supported in this regard,” Dr Chipika said.
Mr Avinarsh Sharma, a representative of the main contractor, Shapoonji Sharma, expressed his gratitude for the awarding of the contract to his company and promised to complete the project within 28 months as stipulated in the contract.
The company is also involved in the construction of the 42km pipeline from the Deka High Lift pump station to Hwange Power Station in Matabeleland North.
Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral trade finance institution created in 1993 under the auspices of the African Development Bank. It is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt. Afreximbank”s vision is to be the trade finance bank for Africa.
Online Reporter