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Business Writer
New Hope Roofing Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Samano Holdings, has started building a roof tile plant in Concession (Mashonaland Central), about 50 kilometers west of Harare at a cost about US$1 million.
The plant will have the capacity of churning out two meters of tiles per second and will directly create 300 jobs.
This would be coupled with further additional investment in a housing project.
This entails vertical integration with roofing brick making and construction.
“We as SAMANO Holdings would also like to thank the new dispensation under His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa for ushering in devolution,” said Mr Wilson Banda, chief executive of Samano during the ground breaking ceremony last Friday.
“We strongly feel that the private sector has a direct role to play in supporting the devolution drive by identifying opportunities and investing outside Harare.
“I hope that certain incentives will be mooted by the Government, perhaps by extending the Export Processing Zones’ blue print to lure private sector participation in advancing the devolution vision.”
The Government is currently implementing devolution agenda that emphasise regional economic development.
Devolution refers to the cascading of powers and responsibilities to lower levels of governance by the central Government and in Zimbabwe a key feature of this is the creation of provincial councils that will become the authority in the running of affairs in the country’s regions.
In recognition of the importance of devolution, the Government has made the implementation of the concept a key strategy of the national development agenda.
The devolution and decentralisation programme features prominently in the socio-economic development roadmap and vision 2030.
It is anchored on the overriding objective of promoting sustainable, representative, accountable and inclusive governance. It recognises the right of communities to manage their economic affairs and further their own development as well as encouraging the equitable sharing of local and national resources.
The model of devolution will facilitate investment in various districts at growth points. The national gross domestic product will be disaggregated to the provincial level for competitiveness purpose.
The provincial management of the economy entails working closely with the private sector to capture data and understanding their requirements.
To further promote decentralisation, Dr Banda suggested that incentives could be rewarded according to the size of investment, based on threshold, employment creation, value addition to the specific area as well as export capacity.
“We believe that such initiatives will propel countrywide development at an unprecedented rate,” Dr Banda said.
SAMANO Holdings is a wholly owned indigenous company, which started with specialised health care services business in the UK.
The group has now diversified into mining and heavy earth moving equipment hire.
The company is also pursuing a joint venture with Mazowe Rural District
council to invest in gold mining, solar, pharmaceuticals and specialists health services.
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Mashonaland Central West Province Monica Mavhunga, said the province was primed for more investments with about 10 investors at different stages of starting up businesses.
This is in response to investment conference held by Mazowe Rural District Council recently, which attracted more than 250 potential investors.
Online Reporter