Harare | Tuesday
ZIMBABWE is to pay a heavy price for loans from Libya with farms, hotels and oil installations pledged to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime as payment for his help, the Zimbabwe Independent reports.
The Libyans, who recently provided a $90-million line of credit to supply fuel to Zimbabwe, have cast their eyes on stakes in two financial institutions and a major hotel group as well as oil facilities and land as payment, the newspaper said, citing government sources.
President Mugabe was recently in Tripoli to conclude the fuel deal.
Sources said the Libyans were eyeing a stake in two commercial banks in which the government has a shareholding. The newspaper said although it was not immediately clear what the Libyans proposed to do with their stake, there are suggestions that the banks would form part of a broad-based Libyan investment drive in Zimbabwe which will require local capital as well as external sourcing.
The Libyans also want to run safari operations in Zimbabwe, specifically designed for rich Arab tourists who want to travel to the country to shoot game.
The sources said under the deal, the Libyans would be apportioned 8 000 hectares of industrial and farming land. The sources said Libyan entrepreneurs would produce fruit and food crops on the land, solely for the Libyan market. The North African country would also use part of the land to set up industries to produce goods for their market.
The industries, the sources said, would use as much local raw materials as possible to manufacture goods.
The newspaper quoted the sources as saying the Libyans were interested in land in Mazowe Valley and Nyanga. They had also indicated an interest in setting up a fruit canning plant or going into partnership with an established local fruit and vegetable conglomerate.
“What this does is to set up a little Libya in Zimbabwe because these guys want to come in a big way,” the newspaper quoted a source close to the arrangements as saying.
“They want the land to be fenced off so that Zimbabwe will not have access to the plants and there is this unfortunate possibility that they will bring in their own work- force,” the source said.
“Fuel is an important resource for use but I am not sure whether this will be for the good of the country in the long run,” the source said.
The Libyans were in the country last month to inspect facilities in the fuel industry and areas of possible investment in tourism.
In terms of the fuel agreement, Tamoil, a Libyan-owned company, will supply a total of $360-million worth of fuel to the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim).
Nicholas Kitikiti, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, was quoted as saying that the fuel deal would meet 70% of Zimbabwe’s normal requirements. He said negotiations were also under way between Noczim and a Monaco-based Libyan company, Oil-Invest, to form a joint-venture oil company which would be involved in fuel imports and the retail trade in Zimbabwe.
The Libyan Arab Foreign Bank would finance the deals with the two Libyan companies and Noczim. Zimbabwe would be paying in Zimbabwe dollars. – Misanet
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