The São Tomense government has signed a concession contract with investor Shehab Shanti for the development of the Malanza Free Trade Zone in southern São Tomé, valued at US$1.3 billion (1.1 billion euros).
” The strategy of transforming our potential in strategic and geographical terms, our natural beauty as an investment attraction factor is enshrined in the Government’s programme,” said the director of the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (APCI), Rafael Branco.
The first stone for the launch of the work is scheduled for the next 90 days, but the execution period “will be extended”.
The project will cover an area of 204 hectares, distributed between the communities of Monte Mario and Ribeira Peixe, both in the south of Sao Tome island.
“This project has the virtue of connecting Sao Tome and Principe to the world,” Rafael Branco explained.
In the view of the Ukrainian investor, the project is intended to transform Sao Tome and Principe into a service provision centre like Mauritius or the Seychelles.
“This project will transform Sao Tome as a whole and has all the ingredients to be considered like the Seychelles or Mauritius,” said Shehab Shanti, ensuring that its implementation will create at least 9,000 jobs.
Hotels, a reference hospital, a specialised training centre, a landing strip for small planes, leisure areas and other infrastructures are included in this free zone, which is considered to be the largest private investment project in the country.
“We are in the context of the pandemic, but we have to secure the economy and we have to start working now on the recovery and resilience plan. This project of the Malanza Free Trade Zone is a light at the end of the tunnel,” said the Prime Minister, Jorge Bom Jesus.
The prime minister said that the project could turn “a new page” in the country’s economic and social situation and expressed “sympathy” with the Ukrainian businessman who “decided to invest” in the project, to whom he also asked for “speed” in carrying out the work.
The concession contract is for 90 years and within 60 days the investor must present a detailed development plan for what it will build, which obeys environmental protection and hygiene rules, including waste treatment, and at the same time must also present an environmental impact study.
