Categories: Stories

Chinamasa confirms collapse of Zisco-Essar deal

Zimbabwe’s government is again scouting for an investor to revive Ziscosteel — once Africa’s largest steelworks — Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa revealed yesterday, confirming the collapse of a deal with India’s Essar group.

Presenting the country’s 2016 budget in Harare, Chinamasa said the government would take over Zisco’s estimated $700 million debt in a bid to entice another investor, after a deal with India’s Essar signed in 2010 failed to be consummated.

Chinamasa added that all Zisco’s employees would have their contracts terminated on three months’ notice, with effect from December 1 2015.

Essar beat off several rivals, including ArcelorMittal and Jindal Steel, to land the tender to take over Zisco, with its conquest being celebrated at an elaborate 2011 event attended by President Robert Mugabe and his then power-sharing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The deal soon ran into trouble over the iron ore mineral rights that had been written in, but which hard-line elements in Mugabe’s government found unpalatable.-The Source
 

(93 VIEWS)

This post was last modified on %s = human-readable time difference 7:50 am

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

Recent Posts

Can the ZiG sustain its rally against the US dollar?

Zimbabwe’s battered currency, the Zimbabwe Gold, which was under attack until the central bank devalued…

November 10, 2024

Will Mnangagwa go against the trend in the region?

Plans by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa to…

October 22, 2024

The Zimbabwe government and not saboteurs sabotaging ZiG

The Zimbabwe government’s insatiable demand for money to satisfy its own needs, which has exceeded…

October 20, 2024

The Zimbabwe Gold will regain its value if the government does this…

Economist Eddie Cross says the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) will regain its value if the government…

October 16, 2024

Is Harare the least democratic province in Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, which is a metropolitan province, is the least democratic province in the…

October 11, 2024

Zimbabweans against extension of presidential term in office

Nearly 80% of Zimbabweans are against the extension of the president’s term in office, according…

October 11, 2024