‘Zisco, Manhize to complement each other’

INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza, says the revival of Ziscosteel and the establishment of the new US$1 billion Manhize Steel Plant in Chirumanzu in the Midlands province will build formidable capacity for Zimbabwe to sustainably cut import and buttress the country’s ‘Local Content Strategy’.

President Mnangagwa last week led the ground-breaking ceremony of the US$1 billion integrated Dinson Iron and Steel Industrial Park being spearheaded by Chinese global investment firm, Tsingshan Group.

It is projected to start production by October next year with output of up to 600 000 tons per year under phase one.

On the other hand, Kuvimba Mining House is already on the ground at Zisco driving the revival of the defunct steel manufacturing company after being given the nod by the

Government ahead of nine other potential partners.
German investors who are supposed to partner Kuvimba in the revival strategy, jetted in last week and are also on the ground.

Officially opening a Strategic Planning Workshop in Kwekwe yesterday, Dr Sekai Nzenza said the two companies were expected to play a key role in domesticating the steel value chain and cutting import bill.

“We have massive iron ore deposits in Zimbabwe but we are importing US$1 billion worth of steel every year and that is making our infrastructural development and construction projects expensive,” said Dr Nzenza.

“Zisco and the Manhize project should complement each other in the steel manufacturing industry after all the competition will give value to the consumer in terms of price and quality.

“We have the natural resources but we don’t have the latest technology and most of our machines are old and worn out. This is why as a Government we are bringing in the right partners at Zisco.

Zisco

We are in talks with some of the best manufacturing steel plant companies in the world so that a positive trajectory that forms part of President Mnangagwa’s vision towards import substitution can be achieved.”

President Mnangagwa

The minister said the Manhize project was an epitome of modernisation of industry with state-of-the-art equipment being installed on site. She said the Government was also focused on producing vehicles locally.

“We cannot continue importing cars from outside yet we have almost everything that is needed for the manufacturing of the vehicles,” she said.

“The car manufacturing industry is expected to start producing anytime soon as we have intensified the move through our Motor Industry Policy.

“Zimbabwe has the fifth largest lithium deposits in the world yet they were lying idle but plans to manufacture electric batteries are at an advanced stage. We cannot continue exporting unprocessed lithium hence we are bringing in the right investor who can mine, process and value add the lithium into end products. We should be able to produce locally what we want.”

Dr Nzenza said similar import substitution focus was being directed at the fertiliser sector, which is among the top importers draining close to US$662 million from the economy in the past seven years.

USD money

She reiterated the need to drive increased domestic production as a critical step in boosting economic growth and realising desired macro-economic stability.

“I’m happy that our local industry is already benefiting from this deliberate policy thrust as capacity utilisation continues on an upward trend which is now at 66 percent. “Shelf-space occupancy by local products is on the rise growing from 30 percent to the current 75 percent,” said the minister.

She implored stakeholders to be guided by the country’s vision of attaining an upper middle-income economy by 2030 when making decisions.

“Our strategies must be geared towards putting in place the right policies for the realisation of the set targets under the National Development Strategy 1, which is the country’s economic blueprint for the realisation of this vision,” she said.

The three-day workshop is meant to deliberate on the targets set last year in Bulawayo and map the way forward for the ministry. It is being attended by relevant Government departments and stakeholders in the industry and commerce sector.-chronicle.oc.zw