Providing advice on capital equipment incentives

Manufacturing and mining companies investing in Zimbabwe often do not realise that the government provides a number of incentives to those bringing in capital equipment, says Elwyn Mudungwe, one of the directors at Speedlink Cargo. As part of its services, the company advises its clients on the special concessions like duty rebates and suspensions that are provided for by the law. “For example, capital equipment for approved mining development operations is duty-free,” he says. Speedlink has handled project cargo for a number of the big investments in Zimbabwe over the past few years. This includes the about-to-becommissioned ethanol plant, fibre optics project, not to mention the huge chrome smelter project that started operations in the first half of this year. The organisation believes more capital projects are in the pipeline. It has diversified and expanded its range of services in response to changing trading patterns in the economy. The company has seen a sharp decline in the export of sculptures which was once a very lucrative area of business. Zimbabwean artists have been hard hit by the world recession. “We currently move only a container or two of sculptures a month, whereas previously we used to do that in a week” he says. Speedlink is also offering bonded and general warehousing, as well as local delivery services within Zimbabwe. “We handle the clearing, which has historically been our strength, as well as provide storage and export packaging services. “By offering our clients bonded facilities, we essentially provide them with a vehicle through which they can manage their cash flow since customs duty and VAT are paid only on goods that have been ordered and sold to the end user,” he says. Due to the nature of some of the products handled by Speedlink – like wines, portable spirits and high tech electronic goods – specialised transport arrangements like sealable closed box trucks need to be put in place.