(TALKZIMBABWE) Professor Chirwa applauds Chinese investment

Professor Chirwa applauds Chinese investment
Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 14:09

Newly appointed opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) Chairman for International Relations, Clive Chirwa, has highly rated Chinese investors as very hardworking and significant contributors to Zambia’s economic development.

Professor Chirwa, who lives in the United Kingdom (UK), said the Chinese investors should not be perceived as bad because of their commitment to duty and contribution to various economies in many parts of the world.

He told journalists at a Press briefing in Lusaka today that China has been an all weather ally of African countries, including Zambia hence Chinese investors must not be seen as exploiters when they invest in a certain country.

“The perception that Chinese have come to exploit Africa and that they want to colonise Africa is not true. This has been written about by most Western countries,” he said.

Professor Chirwa, who also teaches Aerospace Engineering to Chinese students in China, added that the country has helped Zambia in many areas of the economy especially in infrastructure development.

He pointed out that China has helped Zambia in the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) line, the Tanzania Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) pipeline, which covers a distance of 1,710 kilometre from the port of Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania to Ndola, Zambia.

He further noted that China was a very big economy in the country which many countries cannot afford to avoid doing business with.

“I live in UK and I can tell you that UK borrows from China to run its economy. UK has borrowed about 62 million Pounds from China,” he said, adding that China is fuelling many economies in the world”.

Professor Chirwa has however observed that the poor conditions of service that may be obtaining in some Chinese run companies were as a result of lack of enforcing labour laws to investors when they come into Zambia.

“Our labour laws must be changed. Chinese are good investors and when they come, they give you what you want as a country,” he said.

Chinese investors have a good share in the Zambian foreign investment sphere.

He also said there was need to invest heavily in infrastructure that relate to the country’s transport system.

He said infrastructure in the railway system should be given priority in order to ease the heavy burden which Zambian roads are subjected to.

Prof. Chirwa said once this is done, the lifespan of Zambian roads will be longer because heavy materials will be carried by rail.

Meanwhile, Prof. Chirwa has said windfall tax must be imposed on mining companies because Zambia needs a lot of money to run her economy.

He said it was unacceptable to collect less than US$100 million from companies whose business activities get profits of about US$ 8 billion.

He said Zambia must take advantage of the blessing of many natural resources by getting windfall tax from mining companies.

Professor Chirwa also said Zambia needed to increase industries because industrialisation was important for job creation and poverty reduction.

He explained that poverty can be effectively fought by changing Zambian people’s mindset and culture so that they start working hard.

“Let us change the culture and mind of Zambian people to be hardworking. To change this, we need to give them opportunities for them to work hard,” he stressed.

Before joining the UPND, Professor Chirwa was a member of the ruling MMD.
[ZANIS]