Zimbabwe to announce Special Economic Zones

ZIMBABWE will soon start designating Special Economic Zones (SEZ) after the country gazetted the statutory regulations that activated powers of the statutory body.
The Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority (Zimseza) was set up in a staggered process that was only wound up recently with the appointment of Edwin Kondo as chief executive after almost a year without a secretariat.
Even after putting systems in place, the authority’s powers had been withheld by the delays in the publishing of the statutory regulations.
“Our regulations and the fee structure have now been gazetted. We are working on the list of applicants. The Zimseza Act mandates us to be licensing applicants within five days and by Monday next week, we will be announcing some declared SEZs,” Edwin Kondo, the authority’s chief executive told The Financial Gazette.
“It has been a long wait. We have a waiting list in excess of 50, but some have the full information requirements, while others do not. So, we are liaising with the investors to get the paperwork in order, we intend to consider these in the next coming weeks and months,” he added.
The regulations which were gazetted through Statutory Instrument 154 of 2018 as a supplement to the Government Gazette of August 17, specify the process of SEZs including declaration, consideration, licensing of operators and investors as well as developer permits.
Government had already gazetted fiscal incentives with respect to SEZs through the Finance Act of 2017. The fiscal incentives included tax rebates and duty exemptions.
Zimseza says it has received interest from all over the world including from Europe, USA, India, South Korea, Canada and Australia.
Meanwhile, government has expressed its interests for SEZ status to be given to Sunway City, Victoria Falls, Bulawayo, Mutare and Norton. The statutory body has said that it will consider these areas through the normal due procedures.
In terms of the statutory regulations, a “fee shall be paid together with every application for a developer, operator or investment, permit or licence”.
If an application is rejected the authority shall be refund the fee to the applicant in full. The fees for developers permit and operators’ licence were set at $3 000 per annum, respectively. While investors licence shall attract a fee of $1 000 per annum.
SEZs are areas in which business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. They are normally located within a country’s national borders, and their aims include: increased trade, increased investment, job creation and effective administration.
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