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Lovemore Zigara Business Correspondent
THE construction of a $50 million brick and tile manufacturing plant in Gweru is expected to start this month. Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company (SZCC), a subsidiary of China Building Materials Corporation (Sinoma), is spearheading the investment with a ground breaking ceremony scheduled for October 13 at the plant site on the outskirts of Gweru.

The construction project will be done in three phases over a period of five years, company officials said.

The new firm is expected to employ about 500 people during the construction stage and over 200 workers when the company becomes operational in the first phase.

Wang Yong, the SZCC managing director, said the ground-breaking event would be graced by the Sinoma Group chairman, Song Zhi Ping, who will jet into the country next week from China.

“The brick and tile plant, which our parent company is expected to set up adjacent to our plant (Sino Cement), is now at an advanced stage. We’re going to hold a ground- breaking ceremony in October,” said Wang.

“We’re still waiting for the final authorisation from the relevant government departments including final environment impact assessment of the project from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA). Our group chairman will be there for this milestone project, which we expect to be a game changer in the brick and tile industry.”

Sinoma is expected to inject an initial $20 million into the three phase project, which is expected to produce 100 million bricks and tiles annually with production expected to double in five years when the three phases of expansion are completed.

The brick and tile manufacturing plant will rely on quarry shell and coal ash, which are by-products of SZCC operations for its raw materials, which Yong said was part of the company’s policy of embarking on environmental friendly projects through the use of recycleable material.