Project Name Zimbabwe: Deraswiss Zimbabwe (Private) Limited

Region Sub-Saharan Africa

Sector Leather Tanning and Finishing

Project No 009168

Projected Board March 31, 1999
Date:

Company Name Deraswiss Zimbabwe (Private) Limited

Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders

The sponsors are the Hamawi Family (90%), Emmanuel Mutemi (5%) and Owen Chikwature (5%). The Hamawi family (Steven and Xenia Hamawi) has been involved in the leather tanning business since 1930. Messrs. Emmanuel Mutemi and Owen Chikwature are senior officers in the company, with a total of twelve years experience in the leather industry.

Project Cost Including proposed IFC investment

The project cost is US$2.5 million and IFC has been requested to provide a loan of US$1.1 million.

Location of project and Description of site

The project is located in industrial area of Kadoma, 140 km south of Harare, Zimbabwe.

Description of Company and Purpose of Project

Deras is a Zimbabwe leather manufacturing company, which was established in 1991 with a capacity to process 120,000 hides per annum to the wet blue stage.  Deras uses wet salted and green hides sourced from private and government abattoirs. The company now intends to expand its capacity to 180,000 hides per year of wet blue and introduce a finishing line which will be capable of processing 90,000 hides per year.

Environmental Category and Issues

This is a Category B project according to IFC''s environmental review procedure.  Key environmental health and safety issues that were analyzed include site contamination from past or present activities; solid waste and liquid effluent treatment and disposal; storage, handling, and disposal or hazardous materials including chrome; source of water and power supply; employee training and provision of personal protective equipment; fire safety and response; and plant safety and general housekeeping.  The sponsors have provided IFC with environmental, health and safety information regarding their current operations and proposed expansion.  In addition, IFC has reviewed detailed information from the project appraisal report regarding proposed improvements to the effluent treatment system.  The sponsors have agreed to undertake specific mitigation measures to ensure that the project complies with all relevant IFC guidelines, and established a timetable for completing these activities that is acceptable to IFC.  Details of the proposed operating procedures and mitigation measures are provided in the Environmental Review Summary (ERS) for the project, which will be available from the InfoShop before March 1, 1999.

Host Country location of Zimbabwe
environmental documents

Date SPI sent to PIC February 8, 1999

“This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of consideration of the proposed transaction by the Corporations Board of Directors. It is provided for the purpose of enhancing the transparency of IFC’s activities and should not be construed as presuming the outcome of IFC Board consideration.”

For additional Information contact: Corporate Relations Unit -
telephone: (202) 473-7711
facsimile: (202) 974-4384
Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).