EMA charges scare away investors

Auxilia Katongomara Business Reporter
NUMEROUS licensing fees by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) came under the spotlight during recent public debt management hearings where participants accused the environmental watchdog of scaring away investors.

Speaking during a public hearing on the Joint Ventures and Public Debt Management Bills in Bulawayo, participants had no kind words for the EMA.

Butler Tambo, an economic analyst and researcher with Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe (PPRIZ), said numerous licensing fees charged by the regulator were scaring away investors.

“Don’t look at this bill in isolation, look at the EMA Act. For instance, there is a provision that for any infrastructural development there has to be an environmental assessment to which companies are made to pay 1,5 percent of the total cost and that has made most investors not want to invest in Zimbabwe.

“This has made the cost of investment very costly in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Tambo claimed that out of the estimated $500 million cost for the Kariba Hydro Power expansion project, EMA demands $7,5 million.

Marcos Nyaruwanga from the Ministry of Finance concurred saying a number of investors had lost interest in the country citing biting EMA levies.

Regulatory costs that include EMA licensing fees and approval charges along the bureaucratic chain, have been blamed for increasing the cost of doing business in the country.

Captains of industry have petitioned the government to review these charges as well as the tax regime and labour laws to enhance competitiveness of local firms.

Parliament is seized with debating the Joint Ventures Bill, a piece of legislation that seeks to promote public private partnerships on infrastructural projects and the Public Debt Management Bill, which seeks among other objectives to establish the public management office and put a limit on the amount of money the government can borrow.

The meetings were conducted by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Development, chaired by David Chapfika.

Participants complained over what they termed ‘too much’ expenditure by some government departments.

They also called for monitoring of funds allocated to parastatals by the government and questioned the independence of the auditor general.