News / Local
Government begs Aliko Dangote to invest
01 Jan 2017 at 08:29hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe government, desperate for foreign investment is assembling
and dispatching a team of top officials to 'beg' Nigerian billionaire
Aliko Dangote to pour his cash into the economy.
According to Secretary in the Ministry of Investment Promotion, Desire Sibanda the team drawn from several ministries is expected to jet out in the next two weeks.
"Government has set up a team to resuscitate the Dangote deals, which will be visiting the Nigerian early next (this) month" state controlled Sunday Mail quoted him saying.
"We are following up on the investment he promised" he added.
He said the promised "investment deals were being stalled by certain assurances the Nigerians had requested which included exemptions from certain legal, all of which we have resolved now".
Sibanda
said the officials "will appraise him on developments around the
investment climate in Zimbabwe, which has changed dramatically since he
visited Zimbabwe in 2015".
When Dangote visited Zimbabwe in 2015, a state of euphoria gripped the country, as government believed a saviour to deliver the country from the economic crisis had arrived.
The Nigerian billionaire said he would spend close to $400 million on the cement plant, which will produce a million and half tons of cement a year, making it the biggest in country.
However, a few weeks later, Dangote curiously omitted Zimbabwe from the countries he named as investment destinations.
He said his company planned to build cement plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Zambia and conspicuously left out Zimbabwe where people were made to believe that he wants to construct a cement plant with a capacity to produce 1,5 million metric tonnes annually.
According to Secretary in the Ministry of Investment Promotion, Desire Sibanda the team drawn from several ministries is expected to jet out in the next two weeks.
"Government has set up a team to resuscitate the Dangote deals, which will be visiting the Nigerian early next (this) month" state controlled Sunday Mail quoted him saying.
"We are following up on the investment he promised" he added.
He said the promised "investment deals were being stalled by certain assurances the Nigerians had requested which included exemptions from certain legal, all of which we have resolved now".
When Dangote visited Zimbabwe in 2015, a state of euphoria gripped the country, as government believed a saviour to deliver the country from the economic crisis had arrived.
The Nigerian billionaire said he would spend close to $400 million on the cement plant, which will produce a million and half tons of cement a year, making it the biggest in country.
However, a few weeks later, Dangote curiously omitted Zimbabwe from the countries he named as investment destinations.
He said his company planned to build cement plants in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Zambia and conspicuously left out Zimbabwe where people were made to believe that he wants to construct a cement plant with a capacity to produce 1,5 million metric tonnes annually.
Source - Byo24News
