Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
Beitbridge Rural District Council has been primed for massive economic growth and is working on attracting investors to exploit their special economic zone (SEZ) status.
The move follows the designation of the Mtetengwe area as a SEZ by the Government on Tuesday.
Mtetengwe is located some 30km west of the border town along the Beitbridge to Bulawayo highway.
In an extraordinary gazette, the Government said the area had been proclaimed in line with the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida) Act.
“Designation of Special economic zone…. It is hereby notified that the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency, in terms of section 31 of the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Act (Chapter 14:38), has declared the area specified below to be a special economic zone with effect from 18 December 2023…”, read part of the gazette.
“This covers a certain piece of land situated in the district of Beitbridge measuring five thousand, one hundred and sixty-three (5163) hectares within Mtetengwe Communal lands, under the Beitbridge Rural District Council.
“A map of the area covered by the special economic zone will be available for inspection at the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency office in Harare between 8AM and 4PM between Mondays and Fridays other than public holidays”.
Council chief executive officer Mr Peter Moyo said yesterday that the area had a lot of investment opportunities in livestock production, citrus production, retail, warehousing, packaging, and horticulture among others.
He said they were also coal deposits in the area where further exploration and quality tests were underway.
Mr Moyo said they had already started planning a major project to transform the district’s economic growth.
“We are already planning on a massive plan to drive investment in the area, which has not only fertile lands for horticulture, but is also strategically located closer to markets in the town some 30 km along the Beitbridge to Bulawayo commercial road,” said Mr Moyo.
“The SEZ status is a welcome development in our district as we walk through the road to economic transformation. We have a lot of opportunities in Beitbridge awaiting exploitation”.
He said the local authority has among other things resolved to expeditiously process business proposals from investors to reduce the red tape that frustrates economic growth.
The official said they expected to have a lot of companies setting up shops in the district under the SEZ facility. Mr Moyo said the local authority takes issues of economic development seriously and that they were ready to approve the projects at the shortest possible time.
“We are better positioned as a district, due to our location in the regional and international trade corridor,” he added.
In its second-quarter report last year, ZIDA noted that it was processing Xintai Resources’ application for the designation of Power and Metallurgical Special Economic Zone in Beitbridge.
Zida said Xintai proposed to construct a thermal power plant, coal washing plant, iron and steel plant and ferro-chrome smelter adding that it was also in the process of gazetting a preliminary notice for the designation of the proposed SEZ.
In 2018, the Second Republic declared Beitbridge Town a SEZ as the new dispensation upped efforts to attract more investment under the “Zimbabwe is open for business” agenda.
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