Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mike Bimha on Thursday confirmed that government had signed an agreement with a Hong Kong investor to revive Zimbabwe’s giant steel making company, Ziscosteel.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ZimTrade Exporters Conference held in Harare, Bimha said they had signed an agreement with R&F from Hong Kong to revive Ziscosteel.
“Our investors is not into steel making but they are the providers of capital and obviously they will engage other PPC contractors to do so,
“And so we are in the process of finalizing the implementation and we have already signed an agreement and we believe that in a short while, we should be able to unveil the entire agreement with all the details,” said Bimha.
He added that the deal will boost the exporters growth earnings in the country adding that Ziscosteel can still be the best export contributor in Zimbabwe.
“And more importantly once we get back Ziscosteel on line, the production exceeds our own demand therefore we will open above US$350 million worth of products that we want and it will generate another US $1 billion in terms of exports,
“When Ziscosteel was still alive on stream, it was the most contributors in terms of exports and therefore it also stresses a point that we should ensure that we get Ziscosteel back on track,” emphasized Bimha.
Commenting on the recent price hikes and panic buying that gripped the country a few weeks ago, Bimha said there were no major changes in economic fundamentals besides mere speculation through the social media.
He added that the shortage of foreign exchange on the local market has created a multi-tier pricing system due to illegal parallel market transactions.
Ziscosteel was once Africa’s biggest integrated steel maker but closed operations in 2008 due to gross mismanagement and a failure to keep abreast with advancing technology.
