In 1990, the City of Nelson signed a protocol agreement through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in a technical exchange program between Mutare and Nelson. This program is an initiative funded by CIDA which links municipalities in Canada with others around the world to exchange information and provide technical expertise. The program has operated since 1990 with over 30 exchanges taking place. The City of Nelson has provided expertise in the areas of accounting, computerization, auto-cad mapping, timber frame home construction, vehicle maintenance, policies and procedures, council staff/relations and management skills training.

Location

The city of Mutare is located right on the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. For this reason she has always been considered the country's gateway to the sea.

Communications

In addition to being close to the port of Beira, only 290 kilometres away, Mutare is adequately served by an excellent communications network. Wide tar roads connect the city with the rest of the interior country. Daily and efficient passenger and goods trains link the city to the towns of Nyazura, Rusape, Marondera and Zimbabwe's capital Harare.

Light aircraft can land on the Mutare Aerodrome situated only 5 kilometres from the city centre. Telephone, telegraphic, and facsimile services are based on a state of the art digital exchange and are of a high standard. Express and ordinary mail to any destination in the world are readily available

Area and Population

Mutare urban occupies an area of 16700 hectares and has a population of more than 150000 inhabitants. Being the provincial capital of Zimbabwe's most populous province of Manicaland the city is a focal point for more than a million people.

Business Support Services

Mutare is a modern metropolis and has adequate business support services. All commercial banks in Zimbabwe have full fledged branches offering a comprehensive range of banking services.

The banks include:

• Standard Chartered Bank;
• Barclays Bank;
• Zimbank;
• Stanbic Commercial Bank,
• Commercial Bank.

The city is also served by building societies that provide mortgage finance as follows:

• Central African Building Society
• Beverly Building Society
• Founders Building Society.

Availability of trained labour

Mutare has got some of the finest education and manpower training facilities in the country. These are:

• The Zimbabwe College of Forestry;
• SADC Forestry Technical College;
• Mutare Technical College;
• Africa University;
• Mary Mount Teachers College;
• Mutare Teachers College
• A number of private commercial colleges.

Our competitive edge

We offer our prospective investors unique advantages that no other town or city can.

Abundance of resources

The city of Mutare is surrounded by a diverse resource base which offers immense opportunities for investment in a wide range of industrial and commercial activities. Some of the resources are:

Forestry

Mutare is situated in the heart of Zimbabwe's timber growing areas. The timber resources range from softwoods such as pines to hardwoods which include mahogany and mukwa. This makes Mutare the ideal location for any type of timber based industries such as board and paper, joinery, roof trusses, and furniture manufacturing operations for both local and export markets.

Agricultural produce

Mutare's environs are richly endowed with a wide variety of quality agricultural produce particularly vegetables and fruits. These include apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, tomatoes, peas, and beans. This sets Mutare as the logical location for agro-processing industries for canning, freeze-drying and packing these resources. Other agricultural produce include tea, coffee, wheat, cotton and tobacco. Processing factories, textile industries and tobacco auction floors have developed and opportunities exist for the establishment of up and down stream linkages with these industries.

Tourist attractions

Manicaland, including the hinterland of Mutare, has clearly the widest range of excellent tourist resorts and facilities in Zimbabwe. These include Nyanga mountains for excellent game viewing, scenic views and mountain climbing and the Vumba mountains also for captivating scenery and lush botanical gardens, all within less than an hour's drive from the city centre.

First class hotels, motels, lodges and mountain homes are scattered around Mutare and are very popular with visitors. Immense opportunities exist for tourist related commercial activities catering for the area's ever increasing tourist traffic.

Proximity to the sea

Peace has now been achieved in Mozambique and transport routes to the seaport of Beira are now safe and efficient. Mutare is Zimbabwe's closest city to the sea making it the most strategic location for transport cost sensitive import and export oriented enterprises. It is evidently the best centre for the establishment of Export Processing Zones, vehicle assembly plants, freight forwarding, warehousing and container handling facilities.

Serving Mozambique

With peace in Mozambique now a reality there will undoubtedly be heavy reconstruction and infrastructure rehabilitation activities for the next 5-10 years in that country. This requires massive quantities of hardware and technical input. Mutare is strategically poised to realize a huge demand in building materials and expertise. It is, therefore, a logical choice for companies engaged in the manufacture and supply of roofing materials, cement bricks, wooden and concrete boards and other related materials. There is also scope for construction industry consultants such as design architects, draughtsman and engineers to establish here to serve the reconstruction needs of the Sofala, Manica and Tete provinces while taking advantage of Mutare's well developed business support services and excellent communication facilities.

Attractive Investment Incentives

The city's investment incentives were designed to make it less costly for investors to start up. The unbeatable incentives include:

1. Relaxed land purchase terms: For both industrial and commercial investors council offers stands and virgin land on relaxed and negotiable payment terms. A deposit of only 25% of purchase price is required as down payment with the balance payable over 5 years with a provision to negotiate a longer payment period.

2. There is a moratorium on payment of rates for new ventures: For new industrial development such a moratorium extends for three years. For new commercial investment property taxes are levied at a reduced rate of 50% of payable rates for a period of 3 years from date of purchase.

3. Preferential water and sewerage tariffs: Council offers preferential water and sewerage tariffs to all new industrial and commercial development at the rate of 50% of payable charges for 3 years from date of purchase of stand.

4. Quick decisions on investment matters: To facilitate quick decisions on investment issues and thus minimize unnecessary costs to the investor the Council has designated the Town Clerk as its Investment Promotion officer. He liaises with prospective developers on all investment issues such as applications to water, electricity and telephone services etc.

For more information kindly contact:
The Town Clerk; City of Mutare
P.O. Box 910
Mutare
Zimbabwe
Telephone: 263 20 64412
Fax: 2632061002

or

The Director
Zimbabwe Investment Centre
Investment House
109 Rotten Row Road
P.O. Box 5950
Mutare
Zimbabwe
Telephone: 2634 75793215 or 759911/6
Fax: 263 4757937 or 759917