Govt harmonising investment laws

Conrad Mwanawashe Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT is in the process of harmonising investment laws through the creation of an Omnibus Investment Act which seeks to remove stumbling blocks to investment inflow. The move is part of the wider strategy to create a sound investment environment .

The principal director in the Ministry of Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Mr Thando Madzvamuse said the Attorney General’s Office is in the process of marrying legislation to do with investment.

“Different pieces of investment-related legislation offer different procedures, policy and guides to investment application and processing,” said Mr Madzvamuse.

“The objective is to harmonise all investment related legislation through the creation of an Omnibus Investment Act (which will give legal effect to the One Stop Shop),” he said.

In order to mobilise these resources, there is need for an investment environment that is conducive enough to attract investment, in particular, foreign capital which is a critical compliment to domestic capital, flows towards economies that have the most simplified investment approval and business start-ups procedures, among other factors.

Part of the strategy to create a friendly business environment includes transforming the Zimbabwe Investment Authority into a full service Investment Promotion Authority from a simple licensing and facilitating board by the end of the year.

The transformation includes the operationalisation of the One Stop Shop investment centre including the appointment of a new board and an overhaul of the authority’s structure for it to effectively facilitate investment.

The new ZIA’s functions will include marketing, operations, investment facilitation, investment tracking and after care of established investors.

Apart from appointing a new board and changing the ZIA structure, Government will streamline investment approval processes to meet the proposed five-day approval target and even aim for less than five-days.

Government is angling to correct some of the weaknesses of the current OSS set up which include lack of buy-in from stakeholders, the OSS was not properly integrated in the ZIA structure hence is was operating as an island within the authority.