Nelson Gahadza Senior Business Reporter
ZESA Enterprises (ZENT) says the steel offtake agreement signed with Dinson Iron and Steel Company for the supply of over 1500 tonnes of steel per month will bolster capacity utilisation and drive revenue growth.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate in a number of areas including steel tower manufacturing and rehabilitation of the transmission and distribution network in Zimbabwe.
ZENT, a subsidiary of ZESA Holdings, manufactures and distributes electrical items including transformers and transmission towers sold into the local and regional markets. Dinson is one of the three local subsidiaries of China’s largest stainless steel producer, Tsingshan Holdings Group, which is building a US$1,5 billion integrated steel plant in Manhize, near Mvuma.
ZENT acting managing director Dr Godfrey Mugaviri said the importance of that agreement was that ZENT became the residual referral point for the distribution of steel across the country.
“We appreciate that ZESA has a wider presence in Zimbabwe so we are going to use our ZETDC distribution depots across the country to ensure that we distribute steel across the country, pushing into the economy both upstream and downstream,” he said.
Dr Mugaviri said ZENT had also signed various MOUs with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development for the supply of steel products to ZINWA for dam construction while ARDA will require irrigation equipment such as centre pivot manufacturing.
He said the company appreciates that in the building of the backbone infrastructure, it is critical to have to electrify the country.
“President Mnangagwa has created a compelling vision that the rest of the country must be electrified by 2030 to an extent that through our relationship with Dinson, we are able to manufacture all value line materials that will then help every Zimbabwean have decent access to electricity.
“Only slightly above 900 000 customers are connected to the national grid, vision 2030 presupposes that over 3 million clients must be connected and this entails deployment of iron and steel products,” said Dr Mugaviri.
He said the company had the privilege of visiting China to witness some of the most compelling technologies related to boiler manufacturing, which Zimbabwe can deploy in its own industries.
“We have also visited companies that manufacture renewable energy infrastructure, we are therefore going to develop the capacity to manufacture even lithium batteries in Zimbabwe because we have huge deposits of the resource.
“The production of lithium batteries in Zimbabwe will help to decarbonise the economy and ensure that we contribute to various Paris agreements that have been made before,” said Dr Mugaviri.
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