Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A US$120m cement plant is set to open in Chegutu in a move that will see around 500 people being employed at the site.
The cement plant, being constructed by Shuntai Investments, is expected to be complete in April next year and will be producing 800 000 tonnes of cement annually.
The project is one of the 114 being implemented across the country under the Zimbabwe Industrial Reconstruction and Growth Plan.
“At this moment, we are about 55% of the overall completion of this project. As we can see, all these areas, we have the equipment already delivered, more than 65%,” Shuntai administration manager Yan Bo said.
“Now we are doing the power lines and also installation of the equipment which we are doing. So currently, we have invested more than US$80m. By the time of completion, we should have invested more than US$120m.
“By that time, the project will be fully completed. We are expecting the project to be completed within the next six months. We are now moving at full speed towards completion because the court case delayed us for some time. Now we are moving at full speed towards the completion of the project.”
Service provider, SANY equipment, manager Henry Madhovi said the cement plant would utilise environmentally-friendly modern equipment, with truck and earth-moving equipment on site 100% electric.
“This is a high-level and fully integrated technology plant. So it’s going to be considerate of both environmental protection and all kinds of factor,” Madhovi said.
“We make sure the plant will not damage the environment and also will benefit the community a lot.”
The Zimbabwe Industrial Reconstruction and Growth Plan was crafted to address the immediate challenges affecting the local manufacturing and commerce sectors.
A supervisor at the company, Anderson Mwedzi, said the company prioritised local people, with more than 300 employees carrying out different assignments.
“We made sure that (we employ) young people from around Chegutu. We employed most of the people with little or no experience in moving the heavy machinery. All of them have been empowered,” he said.
Last week, the company was given the greenlight to operate by the High Court in a dispute with Bryden School.
The company said it aimed to harness growth opportunities in order to reduce the import bill as well as enhancing local production capacities and unlocking export potential.
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