Impressive project potential for the taking

Zimbabwe offers some pretty impressive project potential, according to Duncan Bonnett of Africa House. “We have about $35 billion worth in projects on our data base in the Zimbabwe region,” he said. “There is close to $9 billion of mining projects, some $14 billion in the power sector, at least $6 billion in the transport arena and another $3 billion in the water and sanitation sector.” According to Bonnett, whilst not all of these projects are as yet under way and many are still being planned, it is a good indication of the possibilities that exist in the southern African country. He said the country was currently under close scrutiny from the world following the ousting of Robert Mugabe and the appointment of Emmerson Mnangagwa as president. “I think there is a guarded optimism about Zimbabwe at present. There is a fair amount of interest and already we have seen countries like the United Kingdom announce their willingness to assist Zimbabwe in clearing its debt overhang with the IMF subject to the correct policy implementation.” He said expectations of benevolent individual outside powers like China just taking up the slack and investing billions into the country might be too high. “China already has a fair amount of money invested in Zimbabwe and will continue with that, but most countries and development finance institutions are monitoring things closely.”