Cement maker Sino-Zim wants title deeds to land

Sino-Zimbabwe Cement Company (SZCC) has engaged government to have title deeds for Indiva Farm, where it is located, to be transferred to the company.

The cement manufacturer which began operations in 2001 is a joint venture between the Industrial Development Corporation which has a 35 percent stake on behalf of the Zimbabwean government while the balance is owned by the Chinese government through the China Building Materials Corporation (CBMC).

At the inception of the firm, CBMC provided capital while IDC provided land but title deeds were never transferred to the firm.

Indiva Farm is still regarded as state land and SZCC says it is failing to access lines of credit due to the absence of collateral demanded by lending institutions.

“We have been on this piece of land for the past two decades but up to now we are still to get title deeds. We have engaged the Minister of Industry and Commerce (Mike Bimha) who has promised us that the issue will be tabled before Cabinet,” said managing director, Wang Yong.

“Without title deeds there is nothing we can do to get lines of credit to invest in the business hence we have been solely relying on our shareholders for funding. We also intend to rope in other investors to come on board to set up an industrial park but the issue of title deeds is the major stumbling block since there is no security of tenure.”

The industrial park will include a $50 million brick and tile plant, but construction has been delayed after the principal shareholders failed to raise $20 million for the first phase of the project which was supposed to start early this year.-The Source

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