Chinese contractors are waiting for the servicing of the new Parliament building site in Mt Hampden before they could start construction work, Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Huang Ping said yesterday.
By VENERANDA LANGA
Ping, together with Pan Yunhe, the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, made the pledge during a courtesy call to Senate President Edna Madzongwe and Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Portfolio Committee chairperson Kindness Paradza’s offices.
The Chinese delegation was also comprised of members of China’s Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committee, which Yunhe chairs.
“The new Parliament design is very beautiful, but we are still awaiting construction of roads and installation of water and electricity for our contractors to begin construction,” Ping said.
“I have been trying to push Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere to complete those soon so that we begin construction.”
Yunhe said China was willing to invest more in Africa and the rest of the world through enterprises as long as the business environment of that particular country was favourable.
“Our investigations show that in the next five years, Chinese companies will invest more than $120 billion in other countries, and those investments will be solely driven by markets and local conditions in that country. The enterprise will decide whether the local conditions are suitable for their businesses and then they will go there,” Yunhe said.
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He said over the past decade, China managed to attract large amounts of foreign direct investment because of favourable investment policies by the Chinese government.
“The Chinese Foreign Affairs Committee encourages Chinese businesses to invest globally and have win-win situations between them and the host country. Zimbabwe is still growing and we hope Chinese companies that go global will see the opportunity brought by China and Zimbabwe co-operation, and promote the national development of Zimbabwe,” Yunhe said.
Madzongwe hailed the China-Zimbabwe relations, saying President Robert Mugabe has been to China 13 times, the most recent visit being in 2014.
“We have a lot of Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe in brick moulding, motor spare parts and mining and I would like to say we are improving on policies on our foreign direct investment so that they are practical and friendly and get more Chinese companies coming to invest in Zimbabwe,” Madzongwe said.
