Zimbabwe has signed a $1.3-billion deal with China to set up coal mines and three thermal power stations, a state newspaper reported on Monday.
”Two Zimbabwean companies have agreed to jointly establish coal mines and three thermal power stations with a leading Chinese firm in deals worth about $1,3-billion,” The Herald reported.
Zimbabwean officials and representatives of the China Machine-Building International Corporation (CMEC) inked the pact in China over the weekend, it said.
The ceremony was witnessed by Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, who is currently touring China.
All the projects will be located at Dande, about 200km west of Harare.
Zimbabwe’s economically ravaged electricity supplier has over the past three months resorted to extensive power cuts for up to six hours as it battles acute power shortages.
”Right now we are beginning to experience power shortages in the country,” the daily quoted Mujuru as saying in China.
Under the agreement, CMEC will provide power generation and mining equipment but the paper did not indicate if there would be an aid component.
Zimbabwe is in the seventh consecutive year of economic recession characterised by nearly 1 200% inflation, high unemployment and chronic shortages of basic goods. More than 80% of the 13-million population lives below the poverty
threshold, according to economic analysts.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government, which has been shunned in recent years by the West, has vowed to forge ahead with his ”Look East” policy aimed at strengthening relations with Asia and the Middle East.
Last year, Zimbabwe bought three passenger planes, six trainer jets and nearly 400 commuter buses from China.
China also agreed to supply trains and rebuild Zimbabwe’s rail network, as well as pledging food relief for millions of Zimbabweans who face hunger due to poor crops. – Sapa-AFP