China CAMC Engineering has announced plans to revive operations at Arda Mushumbi Pools Estate with a US$200mn investment
The estate in Mashonaland Central region will get the money over the next five years, and the funding will be used to develop irrigation. The Chinese company had sealed a deal with Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Rural Development Authority (Arda) to resuscitate the estate, but the deal is subject to approval by the country’s government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Wang Kailong, country representative for Zimbabwe at China CAMC Engineering, said that his company was committed to helping the revival of agriculture in Zimbabwe, and that it had wanted to build a dam at Arda Mushumbi Pools that would irrigate about 1,000 ha.
He added that China CAMC Engineering would also set up a cotton ginnery and a fruit canning plant at Mushumbi. “We have already signed a contract with Arda for us to build a dam, a cotton ginnery and a fruit canning plant at Mushumbi Pools,” he added. “The dam that we intend to build will also have the capacity to generate about 15MW of electricity that will provide power to the ginnery and canning plant that we want to set up at Mushumbi Pools.”
Kailong added that the company is sourcing money for the project from Chinese banks.
China CAMC Engineering has already supplied Zimbabwe with agricultural machinery such as tractors, combine harvesters and other implements worth about US$58mn since 2002.
