China will Wednesday officially handover to Zimbabwe a US$200 million “gift”- the new state of the art 33,000 square meter parliament complex in Mt. Hampden, about 18 kilometers West of the capital Harare.
Soon after the handover, President Emmerson Mnangagwa will address the nation.
The Shanghai Construction Group Company built the new six-storey, 650-seat parliament funded through a Chinese grant negotiated by the late former President Robert Mugabe before he was toppled by the military in 2017. Construction of the New Parliament started in 2018.
In a letter to all parliamentarians, clerk of parliament, Kennedy Chokuda, said, “Parliament of Zimbabwe would like to advise the nation, all clients and stakeholders of the State of the Nation Address and the Official Opening of the 5th Session of the Ninth Parliament by His Excellency, the President, Dr, E.D. Mnangagwa on the 23rd November at the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, Harare.” The event is strictly by invitation. The address will commence at 12;00 midday.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube is also expected Thursday to deliver the country’s 2023 national budget at the New Parliament Building.
Despite criticism that all so-called gifts come with strings attached, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun told the state-leaning Herald newspaper that Beijing, “never attaches any political strings to assistance or make wanton comments on Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.”
China has also provided Harare a loan to refurbish the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare.
Touring the airport recently, Mnangagwa admitted Harare was struggling to pay its debts to Beijing.
“The President of China in spite of the status of the government of Zimbabwe’s indebtedness to several Chinese companies, which in principle would have constrained China to extend facilitation to further projects because of that indebtedness, President Xi Jinping made a political decision and granted three things, one was the Hwange (power generating unit) 7 and 8 which he said he was granting us a US$1,3 billion loan facility, the other was this one, the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, rehabilitation and modernization, which he granted US$153 million and the third was the parliament which we are building, but that is a grant,”
Beijing also gave Harare a grant to construct the 60,000-seat National Sports Stadium in Harare in 1987.
China rehabilitated the Hydro Kariba Power Station at the tune of US$533 million.