Mutambara leads Ethanol plant rescue bid
21/08/2012 00:00:00
by Business Reporter
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is now leading a new cabinet effort
to rescue the US$600 million Green Fuel project which teeters on the brink
of collapse after struggling to secure government backing.
The company, once touted as a solution to the country’s fuel supply
problems, ceased operations at its Chisumbanje ethanol plant after failing
to win government backing for mandatory blending.
Energy Minister Elton Mangoma insists the company has not justified why all
motorists in the country should be forced to use its ethanol petrol blend.
In addition sections of the coalition government also want the company to
comply with the country’s empowerment legislation which requires all foreign
firms operating in Zimbabwe to transfer 51 percent shareholding to locals.
Company officials however argue that investors in the firm are all
Zimbabweans adding its joint venture partnership with the agricultural
parastatal ARDA also means the company is locally owned.
Mutambara is now leading a new government effort to rescue the project and
was expected to this week travel to Chisumbanje for consultations with
company executives and community leaders.
“Before sitting down with the ministers involved, as the new chairman of the
Cabinet Committee, I want to visit the plant and meet with the people there
and see the developments,” Mutambara told state media.
The closure of the Chisumbanje plant has left thousands of workers jobless
while those still on the company’s books are now only being paid 55 percent
of their wages.
Villagers who had seen their lives transformed by the project are furious
over the political bickering in the coalition cabinet over the project.
“The project was a welcome development for the community because we had
started witnessing growth in the area,” one villager said.
“There are certain politicians coming here to denigrate the project telling
villagers to demand back their plots that are part of the sugarcane
plantation.
“Most of the villagers are in subsistence farming and we were hoping that
because of the project we would be able to access some of the irrigation
facilities under the out-growers scheme.”
Another villager added: “There are people working hard against the project
but most of us were not employed. We were getting enough money to send our
children to school through the project, but since its closure most of us are
struggling to make ends meet.
“There are politicians telling people to demand their land back, but as you
know this is a dry area and people who have embraced the project are
benefiting from irrigation programmes led by Green Fuel.
“There are villagers who are growing maize at the moment using irrigation
facilities from the project.”
Local MP Enock Porusingazi (Zanu PF) said the government should introduce
mandatory blending to help rescue the project.
“Many of our youths had found employment at the project. The plant was
employing youths from the villages and we are dismayed that there are people
working against the project,” he said.
“We are calling on Government to introduce mandatory blending so that we
start benefiting from such an investment.”