ZIA starts following up on projects

Published: 28 October 2013

THE Zimbabwe Investment Authority has started following up on investment projects it approved during the past few years to ensure implementation.

Speaking during a tour of Marondera based agro-company Rollex Pvt (Ltd) which has invested heavily in agro-foods production, ZIA chief executive Mr Richard Mbaiwa said the tours were meant to assess how well investments were being handled.

"This tour is part of our programme to visit investments that have been approved by ZIA over the last few years and we want to understand exactly what is on the ground.

"In the past, we have been publishing figures and statistics pertaining to investment approvals and we now want to see exactly what is happening to those projects," he said.

He said the exercise would help them understand challenges faced by companies which have received investments so that they could open whatever doors were needed to facilitate investments.

Rollex runs four farms which are producing fruits and vegetables for export markets and employs more than 6 000 people from Marondera, Wedza and other surrounding areas at its peak period.

"This is one of the biggest projects we have approved in the agro-industrial sector, if you look at their employment levels and their capacity for export, it is quite an impressive project," said Mr Mbaiwa.

He said the agricultural sector needed more investments of such magnitude that would improve exports.

The project was approved in 2008 with a projected investment of $3,5 million for the production of fruit and vegetables at the four farms owned by the company.

However Rollex chaiman Mr Edwin Moyo said more than $10 million had so far been invested in the project with more investments to be made in the future.
- herald