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Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company plant in Gweru

Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
GWERU based cement manufacturer, Sino Cement Zimbabwe Company (SZCC) has commenced the second phase of its three phased upgrade programme, which will see production doubling by the end of next year.SZCC plant has a design capacity of 200,000 tons of cement per year.

The firm’s managing director, Wang Yong, said the company has already committed $5 million towards the refurbishment of the plant.

“Our focus is to increase output despite the unfavourable economic environment. We’ve already begun the second phase of our refurbishment exercise, which we hope to finish by the end of next year,” said Yong.

“We’ve already secured $5 million for this project, which will see production increase by 100 percent from the current levels.”

He said despite the suppressed economic activity that characterised the first quarter of last year, the company managed to increase sales from 160, 000 tonnes recorded in 2013 to 170,000 tonnes last year.

Yong projected that the company, a joint venture between the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and China Building Materials Corporation (CBMC) will see sales increase by 10 percent mainly driven by housing developments.

Last year, SZCC completed the first $4,1 million phase upgrade, which included the refurbishment of the cement mill, the refurbishment of the rotary kiln as well as upgrading, renewing and automating ancillary equipment.

The refurbishment resulted in the company`s kiln output increasing to 700 tonnes per day.

Meanwhile, the cement company has awarded scholarships to four students, Juliana Mahofa, Peter Bere, Thabiso Tapera and Cane Makuwatsine who will go and study Mechanical Engineering at Jinan University in China.

The scholarship programme, which began in 2003, was initiated by CBMC president, Fang Yongbin.

Speaking during the send off ceremony of the quartet, Wang said the purpose of the scholarship was to equip locals with technical skills.

Said Yong: “The priority areas that have been identified are in the engineering field as well as well as related technical areas. These skills are expected to help improve the technical skills base for locals.

“It’s expected that the beneficiaries of this scholarship programme will come back and contribute to the industrial development of the Zimbabwean economy”.