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Over US$5 billion worth of investment intent have been written to the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) from investors targeting various sectors of the economy.
Some of the investors have started building factories while others are already producing, according to the ZDA acting Director General, Albert Halwampa in an interview in Lusaka on Tuesday.
Halwampa explained that the energy sector had received overwhelming interest from investors, both local and foreign.
“’We already have letters of intent close to US$5 billion with interest in the energy sector investment. We are doing everything we can to harness this intent to ensure that we are energy sufficient.
“There is a lot of positivity in that area so I think by the end of 2023, the story will be different because we are seeing a lot of interest from foreign investors interested in that area,” he said.
Halwampa pointed out that the Agency was keen to take advantage of the current business environment and confidence was high.
The business environment, he stated, was currently ripe and was interesting investors in different key sectors of the economy.
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“We have lined up a lot of local initiatives this year that we attract more investments.
“This means there is more work to be done now, we cannot perform any less because the environment is conducive. Business environment and confidence is so high so as ZDA we will take advantage of this ripe environment for all sectors,” he said.
Meanwhile, Halwampa said ZDA was targeting to issue investment licences within five working days to allow more funds in the economy.
The Agency is currently issuing investment licenses within 10 working days from the 30 working days prescribed in its Act.
Halwampa said going forward during this year, ZDA would digitalise its system which would enable it issue investment licenses within one working day.
“Within the last quarter of 2022, we made sure that all applications for incenses were dealt with within 10 working days, we are now targeting to issue investment licences within five working days.
“And we want to do more, in future probably within this first quarter we are making sure that we digitalise the system, we could be giving an investment license within one day and that is very possible. At the moment, within 10 days you are able to issue investment licenses,” he said.
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