Canadian deal promises turnaround for higher education

Zimbabwe’s Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Ministry has sealed a US$5.2 billion coal-to-fuels deal with a Canadian investor that is set to benefit the higher education sector and the country in general.

The signing of the deal that will take off on 1 June is the first of several deals clinched in the wake of the Higher and Tertiary Education Infrastructure Investment Conference held in Zimbabwe in March this year.

Since December, a month after the resignation of long-time Zimbabwe ruler Robert Mugabe, the country’s higher education and science ministry has signed 22 memoranda of understanding with both domestic and foreign investors for several projects aimed at turning around the higher education sector.

The latest deal was signed by a Zimbabwean company owned by the higher education ministry, Verify Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, and Nkosikona Holdings, an investment vehicle of Magcor Consortium Group of Companies from Canada.

Pedzisai Tapfumaneyi, Verify Engineering chief executive officer and engineer, said the higher education and science ministry formed the company 13 years ago with a mandate to carry out research and development on various sources of energy, focusing mainly on resources found in Zimbabwe such as coal, coal bed methane and solar, among others.

He said the company has 85 employees, who include engineers and scientists of different specialties.

“For the past 13 years, the company has done a lot on developing the technology for the coal to liquid fuels and chemicals project. This includes producing a bankable feasibility study which became the basis on which potential investors were courted,” said Tapfumaneyi.

“The country has actually benefited from the efforts of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, which has started to convert science into goods and services. More is being done by the ministry that will see this nation experiencing unprecedented growth in the world of science, technology and industrialisation.”

He said their latest US$5 billion project is primarily a coal beneficiation project to produce liquid fuels, liquified petroleum gas, oxygen, waxes and compounds for agriculture such as fertilisers.

The engineer said at full throttle their plant will produce 8 million litres of liquid fuels daily against the national requirement of 5 million.

Since President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeded Mugabe, he has declared that Zimbabwe is now open for business and his administration is now collaborating with Western countries and international investors after years of isolation during the reign of its founding leader.