By MAIMBOLWA  MULIKELELA? –
ZAMBIA’S intense construction activities have continued to attract offshore investment with a delegation from China’s Shanxi Jiawei Building Materials (SJBM) and Shanxi Construction companies expected in the country today to assess investment opportunities.
Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) director Agness Chaila said the SJBM vice president Wang Hongwei and Shanxi officials were expected in the country for a week’s market assessment visit and would hold several meetings with players in the construction sector.
Ms Chaila said one of the investors that were engaged by ZDA during the last investment forum in China, which was graced by President Edgar Lungu, had expressed interest in investing in the country.
“During our investment forum in China, we met with representatives from China’s construction sector, SJBM and Shanxi have confirmed a follow up visit to Zambia to come and assess the market,”
Ms Chaila said in a statement in Lusaka yesterday.?According to a company profile submitted to ZDA, the major products of SJBM were pollution free concrete admixtures that are able to reduce the use of cement by roughly 25 per cent.
The admixtures were used to improve specific properties in concrete to improve strength, crack resistance and have been used in major projects in China.
Ms Chaila said among the stakeholders the company would meet were the Civil Engineers Association and the Zambia Bureau of Standards who would authenticate the quality of the company’s products.
She said once the project had set up base in Zambia, it would create benefits through reduced cost of construction and create employment as well as exports to regional markets.?“This investment if realised will be revolutionary considering the booming construction industry,” she said.