Back to Zisco: Examples of how foreign investment helps Zimbabwe
Some elements of the Zimbabwean government are quick to castigate all things foreign - particularly with regards to investment and ownership in Zimbabwe. Indeed, these elements in government will soon seek to banish anything foreign from these lands under the guise of the 'Indigenisation Programme.'
Yet, as recent success stories coming out of the Zimbabwean economy will attest to, this form of xenophobia could reverse some of the fantastic news coming out of Zimbabwe.
As the Herald reports:
"The new foreign owners of Ziscosteel in Redcliff - Essar - are already on the ground and efforts to lure former employees scattered in the region has begun to bear fruit.
Essar Global, the majority shareholder in Ziscosteel, says it is ready to resume phased rehabilitation of the steel firm as discussions on the agreement near finality. The company made a commitment to pay off Zisco's $340 mln debt.
In that regard, it has already agreed on a payment plan with KFW Bank of Germany while preliminary discussions have been held with Sinosol and the Chinese government. In an interview at its head office in Mumbai last week, Essar Steel chief executive Malay Mukherjee said Zimbabwe represented one of the group's major investments.
Plans had already been drawn on the rehabilitation process, he said. "We are ready and our commitment has already been shown. We have engineers ready. We have already selected vendors and initial capital is already lined up," he said.
"We have started cleaning the plant now and a lot of housekeeping has been done." A team of at least 50 people from
Sinosteel
Meanwhile Reuters reports that another foreign company, Sinosteel Corp is ready to put Zimbabwe back on the map when it comes to ferrochrome production.
"Sinosteel Corp's Zimbabwean unit will increase its ferrochrome output by more than a quarter by 2012 following the repair and upgrade of one of its six furnaces, an official said on Monday.
Sinosteel, which owns 73 percent of Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting, or Zimasco, has announced plans to invest $300 million into the firm to build a new smelter and ramp up production in Zimbabwe's largest ferrochrome producer. Zimasco is currently operating below its installed capacity of 180,000 tonnes of high carbon ferrochrome as one of its six furnaces is down, the company's services director, Josephat Zvaipa, told a parliamentary committee hearing. "Our current
production is 165,000 tonnes, excluding one furnace which is being rebuilt. We should do 230,000 tonnes by 2012 when the sixth furnace comes back on stream," Zvaipa said. Zimbabwe's three major smelters have a combined capacity to process 1.5 million tonnes of chrome ore. The country produced 500,000 tonnes of chrome ore in 2010, according to Chamber of Mines figures.
Zimbabwe, which has 12 percent of the world chromite reserves, has seen its ferrochrome output dip from 5 percent of global production in 2000 to 1.2 percent currently.
Zimbabweans getting happier
The Herald reports that Zimbabweans are the most likely people in Southern Africa to say they are now leading a better life after a
period of economic difficulty. This is according to a survey on the Zimbabwean economy by global research firm, Gallup. In terms of the survey, 18% of Zimbabweans surveyed by Gallup in 2011 report "living comfortably" on their present household incomes, double the 9% who said so in 2009. The 16% who reported they are "finding it very difficult" to get by is down significantly from 31% in 2009.
Sinosteel
Meanwhile Reuters reports that another foreign company, Sinosteel Corp is ready to put Zimbabwe back on the map when it comes to ferrochrome production.
"Sinosteel Corp's Zimbabwean unit will increase its ferrochrome output by more than a quarter by 2012 following the repair and upgrade of one of its six furnaces, an official said on Monday.
Sinosteel, which owns 73 percent of Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting, or Zimasco, has announced plans to invest $300 million into the firm to build a new smelter and ramp up production in Zimbabwe's largest ferrochrome producer. Zimasco is currently operating below its installed capacity of 180,000 tonnes of high carbon ferrochrome as one of its six furnaces is down, the company's services director, Josephat Zvaipa, told a parliamentary committee hearing. "Our current
production is 165,000 tonnes, excluding one furnace which is being rebuilt. We should do 230,000 tonnes by 2012 when the sixth furnace comes back on stream," Zvaipa said. Zimbabwe's three major smelters have a combined capacity to process 1.5 million tonnes of chrome ore. The country produced 500,000 tonnes of chrome ore in 2010, according to Chamber of Mines figures.
Zimbabwe, which has 12 percent of the world chromite reserves, has seen its ferrochrome output dip from 5 percent of global production in 2000 to 1.2 percent currently.
Zimbabweans getting happier
The Herald reports that Zimbabweans are the most likely people in Southern Africa to say they are now leading a better life after a
period of economic difficulty. This is according to a survey on the Zimbabwean economy by global research firm, Gallup. In terms of the survey, 18% of Zimbabweans surveyed by Gallup in 2011 report "living comfortably" on their present household incomes, double the 9% who said so in 2009. The 16% who reported they are "finding it very difficult" to get by is down significantly from 31% in 2009.