The government of Zimbabwe has officially commissioned US $10m million brick and tile manufacturing plant at Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company (SZCC) on the outskirts of Gweru.
The commissioning of the brick and tile manufacturing plant comes barely two weeks after the commissioning of US $62m smelter at Unki Mines. Market watchers say the commissioning of the two projects within a short space of time indicates that investors, both existing and potential, have confidence in the new administration led by President Mnangagwa.
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Tile and bricks plant
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who opened the plant said that commissioning of a new brick moulding plant is basically a welcome move in that we now have another player in the country.
“What it means is that it will provide additional bricks and competition, which in turn will have an effect on pricing,” said His Excellency.
The plant has capacity to produce 60 million bricks per annum and when fully complete the capacity will increase to 100 million bricks. SZCC is operating at 90% capacity utilization and plans to ramp up production. It has about 400 employees and produces 300 000 tonnes of cement annually against a national demand of approximately 1,1 million tonnes.
Additionally, SZCC will be making bricks from the by-product of the cement manufacturing plant, a process which will be contributing significantly in the campaign to go green and at the same time creating employment opportunities.
SZCC Managing Director, Mr. Wang Yong commended that the company bought in world class machinery for brick moulding and as such it is a modern factory that will also produce face bricks which will be imported.
