HARARE – A Chinese bank has snapped up a major stake in the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) in the latest sign of the booming Asian nation’s growing stranglehold on the resource-rich but cash-strapped southern African country.

The China Development Bank (CDB) and the IDBZ – formerly the Zimbabwe Development Bank – have entered into a deal that will see the injection of fresh capital into Zimbabwe's energy, transport and infrastructure development sectors.

IDBZ chief executive Charles Chikaura said last week that CDB has agreed to extend long-term capital in the form of lines of credit to be used in the energy, transport and infrastructure sectors.

The Chinese financial institution would also be involved in building local capacity to improve project implementation.

“We will be responsible for co-financing with them as you are aware that they will be injecting equity," Chikaura said.

This is the latest in a long list of Chinese deals mostly involving Zimbabwe’s state-owned enterprises.

The Asian country has signed no less than 10 agreements with Zimbabwe since 2000, the bulking of them targeted at projects in the mining sector.

Zimbabwe has the second largest platinum deposits in the world after South Africa as well as abundant reserves of gold, platinum, coal, diamonds, nickel, iron ore, copper, coal-bed methane that remain largely untapped.

China has pledged to pour billions of dollars into Zimbabwe through investment into state companies in exchange for access to the mineral resources.

However, the common factor in all the transactions is that nothing further is heard of the projects and their benefits to Zimbabwe immediately after the agreements are signed.

In one such deal, the state-run Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) last year signed a memorandum of understanding with Jinchuan Nickel Mining Corporation under which the Chinese firm would market nickel, copper and cobalt from Zimbabwe.

It is however not clear how much the deal has benefited Zimbabwe as the MMCZ has never reported on the outcome of the transaction.

China’s Jiangxi Corporation for International and Technical Cooperation entered into a US$200 million joint venture deal with the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) to mine chrome in the Dande area.

Equally interesting is a $1.3 billion joint venture deal signed between ZMDC and the China Machine-Building International Corporation in 2006 under which the Chinese firm was to develop coal mines and power stations in exchange for chrome supplies.

Despite the excitement caused by the project at the time of signing, nothing has been heard about its status at a time Zimbabwe is battling crippling power shortages.

The desperate Zimbabwean government has also partnered with the Star Communications of China which is providing radio and television transmission equipment.

China has also pledged to give Zimbabwe $145 million to build a new Parliament building in Harare as well as another US$300 million to bankroll the construction of a new government complex.

Chinese companies have also promised to rebuild Zimbabwe's rail network and provide trains and buses.

All these projects are yet to take off and are likely being dangled by Beijing as carrot to get more resource concessions from the Zimbabwe regime.

Most of the projects would most likely never come to fruition or, if they do, may never benefit ordinary Zimbabweans.

Another downside of the increasing trade with China is Beijing’s disregard for human rights issues with its dealings with rogue states.

As trade with China has exploded in recent months and in the rush for resources, China has no qualms about dealing with rights violations and tyranny so rampant in Zimbabwe.

China says it has a strict policy of non-interference in other nations' affairs.

It won't tell the countries it deals with what to do and vigorously defends its policy in Africa.

Economist John Robertson said it is interesting to note that China's growing involvement in Zimbabwe has coincided with the country’s international isolation.

"In 1998 China ranked only 11th in Harare’s roll call of importers. Now it accounts for six percent of Zimbabwe’s imports worth an estimated $125 million although observers believe it could well be closer to $200 million,” Robertson said.

By Staff reporter and agencies