Govt suspends duty on Zesa equipment

via Govt suspends duty on Zesa equipment – DailyNews Live by Lloyd Mbiba  16 NOVEMBER 2013  

Government has suspended duty on Zesa equipment, in a move that could help the State parastatal import spares.

A Government Gazette published yesterday stated that Patrick Chinamasa, the minister of Finance, has in terms of section 235 of the Customs and Excise Act, rescinded duty on power equipment.

“The Customs and Excise Regulations 2003 published in statutory instrument 257 of 2003 are amended by the insertion of the suspension of duty on power equipment, critical spares and transformer components imported by Zesa Enterprises, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company and successor company of Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company and Zimbabwe Power Company,” reads the government gazette.

The suspension of duty is valid for one year.

The withdrawal of duty comes as a relief for the power company, which has been struggling to service its power stations, leading to massive power cuts.

The suspension of duty comes hard on the heels of a $319 million deal between the government and the China Export and Import Bank for the expansion of Kariba South hydro power project.

The project is expected to add 300 megawatts to the national grid, a development set to ease power outages.

Zimbabwe’s current electricity generation capacity is about 1 200MW against a peak demand of over 2 200MW.

The loan from the Chinese bank would be used for engineering, procurement of equipment and actual construction to be done by the winning bidder, a Chinese firm called Sino-Hydro.

 

COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 3
  • comment-avatar
    Kuakwa Katiyo 11 years ago

    Chinese are making sure they get maximum benefits from their investments. They gain from the suspension of duty while govt loses potential revenue. This a disincentive for other industries. Why would another foreigner want to invest in Zimbabwe and pay duties knowing other investors are being exempted.

    • comment-avatar
      Boss MyAss 11 years ago

      OK BUT WHO ELSE WANTS TO INVEST IN ZIMBABWE UNDER THIS PHENOMENAL MESS ?

  • comment-avatar
    Kuakwa Katiyo 11 years ago

    Nobody hence Chinese abusing the govt and there is nothing govt can do. Would not be surprised if the Chinese put the condition of duty free imports on the loan.