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Walter Nyamukondiwa
Mashonaland West Bureau
Implementation of the Zimbabwe-Zambia joint industrialisation cooperation agreement, whose Memorundum of Understanding was signed in 2021, is set to move a gear up.
Today, a team comprising key Government ministries and departments is scheduled to visit suitable sites for the establishment of the Zimbabwe-Zambia Common Agro-Industrial Park (CAIP) in Mashonaland West province.
Facilitated by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) secretariat, the joint industrialisation cooperation is expected to support structural and economic transformation of the two nations.
Similar visits will also be conducted in Zambia to make a final decision on the site suitable to set up the park, which is expected to provide value addition facilities for dairy and crops along the North-South Corridor.
Preliminary sites proposed by Mashonaland West province include Lions Den, where the railway line linking Beira and Zimbabwe ends.
Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Marian Chombo said the most convenient site should be identified and procedures undertaken to facilitate land from the responsible authority, once Zimbabwe is selected.
“We need to have identified the ideal site that we put forward as Mashonaland West Province as the best to meet the criteria set out by Monday, when the delegation comes,” said Minister Chombo in an interview last week.
“We are fighting to make sure that it comes to Mashonaland West. I am so happy after visiting the Comesa project in Chirundu and we are hoping that we will be able to provide the most suitable site so that we are selected as a province.”
Proposed sites include Lions Den, Chinhoyi, Banket and Hurungwe.
The selected site is expected to also have a dry port where goods from Beira, transported by rail, are held before they are moved by road up north to Zambia and beyond.
The CAIP project is expected to foster market access, linkages and growth through economies of scale.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter