Zimpapers Logo

William Ding

Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo will be on the spotlight soon after the historic visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country. President Xi arrived in the country yesterday for a two-day State visit.

The Chinese leader and his counterpart, President Robert Mugabe are expected during the visit to bring their officials together to ensure the mega deals already signed move to the next stage which is implementation of the identified projects.

Bulawayo will play host to the government Economic Development Forum 2015 soon after President Xi’s historic visit. The forum to be held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, will be addressed by among others, Chinese billionaire William Ding.

The conference, which will run from December 15 to 17, is expected to come up with strategies on how to localise and implement post 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Ding, who is chairperson of NetEase, one of China’s largest homegrown online companies, ranks number 10 on the Forbes China Rich List published this year with an estimated fortune of $8,2 billion.

Bulawayo used to be the country’s industrial hub and efforts are underway to revive the city’s industries so that the city can regain its lost status.

Most manufacturing industries are located in the city and what is required is urgent injection of new capital to enable the companies to buy new equipment as well as provide working capital.

The planned Bulawayo conference therefore comes at the most opportune time when the Chinese leader has just visited the country to ensure work on most projects under the mega deals start. The conference will provide an opportunity for Bulawayo to market itself as the investment destination of choice in the country.

The city, apart from having abundant land and other such facilities that investors want, is strategically positioned for both rail and road transport.

We therefore want to implore the city fathers to seize this opportunity to table incentives that council offers to investors.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure their areas of jurisdiction are attractive to investors hence the need to come up with incentives packages. The businesspersons on their part should take the opportunity to identify business partners for joint ventures.

Ding, according to conference organisers, will be in the city to look for investment opportunities in housing as well as property and locals should therefore be ready to partner him.

There is no reason why Bulawayo should not benefit from Chinese businesspersons who are accompanying President Xi and looking for fresh investment opportunities in rail sector, hospitality industry, textile and real estate.

We want to once again urge the city fathers and the business community to brace for what promises to be a good investment opportunity.