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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
LISTED roofing and building products manufacturer, Turnall Holdings Limited, has re-opened its asbestos-cement pipe plant after securing $2 million worth of projects with a national significance.The plant, which resumed operations early this month, was shutdown a year ago due low demand for pressure and sewer pipes on the local market.

Turnall produces different sizes of pipes for water and sewer reticulation projects.

The firm’s technical director, Francis Chigwedere, told Business Chronicle yesterday that the resumption of pipe production at their Bulawayo factory was a strong indication that they were keen to maintain the plant running to create employment in the region.

This was in line with the government’s five-year economic blue-print, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable-socio-economic Transformation whose objectives among others are employment creation.

“We have started delivering the asbestos-cement pipes to various projects of national significance with a combined value of  more than $2 million. The projects currently being supplied include the Masvingo Trunk Sewer project, Nkayi Rural District Council project, Victoria Falls pipeline project and the Harare Water Maintenance project,” he said.

“As a result of the pipe plant re-opening, we have employed close to 200 people and most of them are contract employees. We’re now looking at 400 people being employed here (Bulawayo factory).”

Chigwedere said Turnall normally utilises locally produced raw materials resulting in employment creation in downstream industries as well as contributing to government through taxes.

“At the moment, the plant is producing asbestos-cement pipes using fibre imported from Brazil and Russia and competing with imported finished products, a situation that negates the empowerment of local businesses,” he said.

Turnall’s Bulawayo factory capacity utilisation has improved to 55 percent from 40 percent before the resumption of operations at the pipe plant.

Turnall produces the pipes by cold bonding through the application of compression on successive layers of lamina around appropriate mandrel until the required pipe thickness is achieved.