Zimbabwe Infrastructure Summit set for next week

Global Renaissance Investments (GRI) will next week host the fifth edition of the Zimbabwe Infrastructure Investment Summit in Harare.

The summit is set for October 14.

The Zimbabwe Infrastructure Investment Summit (2021) seeks to highlight the vast investment opportunities in infrastructure that are currently available in the country.

The event comes as Government, through the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), has identified infrastructure as a key enabler to economic development.

Water, energy, information and communication technology (ICT), and transport infrastructure are crucial in facilitating industrial activity as well as facilitating trade, both locally and across borders.

GRI chief executive officer, Mr Ngoni Dzirutwe, said the summit is an opportunity for policy-makers and other key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to discuss infrastructure gaps in Zimbabwe, and to map a way forward in promoting infrastructure investment in the country.

"In the energy sector, the country is facing black-outs due to dilapidated and insufficient power infrastructure hence this summit will proffer long-term solutions to such challenges. President Mnangagwa has also stressed that lasting solutions to power shortages are key to achieving Vision 2030.

"Government is in overdrive on maintaining roads, building new dams, and rehabilitating airports, amongst other critical infrastructure," he said.

"An economy with good critical infrastructure has a competitive advantage over one that does not. The national housing gap is ever widening hence more solutions have to be found to address the challenge."

Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona, and Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo are expected to be part of the discussions.

Other notable guests include Africa Development Bank (AfDB) executive director Dr Judith Kateera as well as Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) executive chairman Dr Sydney Gata.

Topics that are expected to take center stage at the summit include infrastructure financing, transport, tourism and housing infrastructure – challenges and opportunities, as well as green energy infrastructure investment, among others.

The AfDB says it is widely recognised that growth and development can only be achieved with the availability of economic and social infrastructure.

The need to improve the quality of infrastructure services in Zimbabwe is, therefore, the cornerstone of Government's policy, strategy and programmes to promote sustained and shared economic growth in the country, as articulated in the NDS1.