THE VIETNAMESE INVESTOR IS A CREDIBLE INVESTOR, WE WANT TO START WITH A PILOT- ZDA’S ALBERT HALWAMPA
ZAMBIA Development Agency (ZDA) director-general Albert Halwampa says the US$72 billion investment pledge by an investor from Vietnam is according to permutation.
Zambia Daily Mail published a story on Wednesday where investors from Vietnam, through their VietZam Diversified Development Corporation Limited, plan to invest US$72 billion in developing hi-tech agriculture and eco-tourism in Luapula, Northern and Muchinga provinces.
The figure made many people question the legitimacy of such an investment. Mr Halwampa said in an interview yesterday that the firm’s chairman and general director, Van Trong Tuy, is a researcher targeting especially swampy areas around Lake Bangweulu to grow rice.
“His model is to invest US$12,000 per hectare and he is simply using permutations to say if he is given 1,000 hectares, he is going to invest US$12 million,” he said.
“If you pick six million hectares, it gives you US$72 billion. That was a consultative meeting we had with the provincial administration and chiefs to see how we can start a pilot.”