Mohloai Mpesi
THE Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) is optimistic about foreign direct investment (FDI) prospects in various sectors in this Kingdom including renewable energy, tourism and agriculture.
The optimism follows the return of the Corporation’s delegation from the recently ended Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAS) summit, in Beijing, China. The LNDC said it had engaged potential investors from various sectors at the event.
The LNDC delegation was part of Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s entourage to the summit, during which China pledged a whopping M896bn for African countries in loans and aid.
China announced a M250 million gift to Lesotho to boost its economy and an additional M25 million worth of food aid during the summit.
LNDC Chief Executive Officer, Advocate (Adv) Molise Ramaili, said they travelled to China to hunt for potential investors in sectors including renewable energy, agriculture and tourism.
Adv Ramaili spoke during Mr Matekane’s media briefing on the visit at State House on Wednesday.
“We went there to look for broad investments including agriculture, renewable energy, tourism, information technology and creative industries as well as manufacturing,” Mr Ramaili said.
“We were in China to actually fish for investments on these broad investment areas.”
Adv Ramalili said they had spotted potential investors in renewable energy.
“We saw opportunities in the renewable energy sector. We realised that the People’s Republic of China has immense interest to invest in renewable energy in Lesotho,” Adv Ramaili said.
“We have sunlight in Lesotho, and this means we can use solar energy. We have an abundance of water and that gives us the opportunity to harness hydropower.
“In the highlands, feasibility studies have shown that there are opportunities for the generation of wind energy. There is another private sector company in China that wants to venture into renewable energy, on a build, operate and transfer basis.”
He said many companies in China had demonstrated interest in investing in Lesotho, particularly because the country granted incentives when local private sector companies partnered with those from other countries.
“Companies in China have realised that Lesotho is an investment destination of choice. Both countries can work together on business because, we grant incentives for our private sector to work with private sector companies in other countries,” Adv Ramaili said.
“We also focused on the agricultural sector because the People’s Republic of China is known for its modern agricultural machinery. We realised that we could partner with China on agriculture.”
Meanwhile, the LNDC has reopened the once great textile factory, CGM, in Ha Thetsane, Maseru, which had gone under due to fraud by some of its employees.
CGM has rehired 300 workers to restart production. It aims to slowly crawl back the 10,000 jobs it once had at its peak.
The reopening of CGM is part of the government and LNDC’s ongoing #ReBulaLifeme (we are opening factories) campaign aimed at revitalising the limping textile sector.
The campaign, which will run until December this year, was launched by Minister of Trade, Industry and Business Development, Mokhethi Shelile and Adv Ramaili, last month in Maputsoe, Leribe, where they reopened Ever Unison Factory.