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Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Bureau

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa will on Monday next week commission the US$10 million brick and tile manufacturing plant at the Gweru-based cement manufacturing company, Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company (SZCC).

Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Larry Mavima confirmed the scheduled commissioning of the plant.

“His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) is coming to Gweru, a second visit in less than two weeks after the commissioning of a US$62 million Unki smelter and is this time commissioning a US$10 million brick and tile manufacturing plant at Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company. 

“These are game changers in the mining and manufacturing industries,” he said.

SZCC managing director, Mr Wang Yong, said the brick and tile plant was complete and was going through a test run.

He said the plant has the capacity to produce 60 million bricks per annum. The first phase of the project gobbled about $10 million.

“Our brick manufacturing plant is now complete. We are now doing a test run of the plant. We have brought in world class machinery for brick moulding and as such it is a modern factory. We will be producing bricks that include face bricks that are being imported. Initially we will be producing 60 million bricks per annum but when the entire project is complete, capacity will increase to 100 million tonnes,” he said.

Sino Cement Zimbabwe is operating at 90 percent capacity utilisation and are looking forward to scaling up production.

 The company has a workforce of close to 400 and produces 300 000 tonnes of cement annually against a national demand of approximately 1,1 million tonnes.

Like any other manufacturing company in the country, Mr Yong said, Sino Zimbabwe Cement has also been adversely affected by foreign currency shortages.

He, however, said the company was getting 85 percent of its raw materials locally. Sino-Zimbabwe Cement was co-built in the 1990s by China National Building Material Company (CNBM) and Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ) in line with China’s “Going Out” strategy. 

 SZCC which is one of the three cement manufacturers in the country, has an annual production capacity of 300 000 tonnes of cement.