HARARE The Zimbabwean government is hunting for partners to invest in the restructured National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim), a Cabinet minister said lkast week.
Energy and Power Development Minister Elton Mangoma said the government has split Noczim into to two companies, one to focus on trading and the other on infrastructure development, adding that the move was meant to ensure viability and profitability of the companies. As of the 1st of January 2011 there will be two successor companies to Noczim, one playing a regulatory role and the other focusing on infrastructure development, he said.
Mangoma, who is a senior member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirais MDC party, said the move to unbundle the government-controlled Nocizm followed the realisation that it was not viable for the enterprise to be both a regulator and a player. The unbundling of Noczim is part of a drive by the unity government of Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe to either privatise or commercialise loss-making state companies and parastatals that have continued to bleed the fiscus as they have to be regularly bailed out by Treasury to save them form collapse.
The government last November sold controlling stake in troubled steel making firm, the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), to Indias Essar Group in a deal believed to be worth nearly US$500 million. There are up to eight other government-controlled entities that are earmarked for immediate privatization or restructuring. Mangoma said the government was yet to decide exactly how much it would require potential investors to plough into the oil trading company formed out of Noczim.
The partner for the infrastructure company will be taken in on an operational basis and they will be assisting in the stock management of the company, he said. For the trading one we are looking for an equity partner though we are yet to come up with the actual figure of the kind of investment we require.
Post published in: News