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A Masvingo-based company has invested US$88 000 in a brick manufacturing plant set to be commissioned next week Wednesday, a senior official said yesterday.
Sando Brick and Tile chief executive officer, Ms Rumbidzai Matuke said the investment is the first of its kind in the province and will also serve Midlands, Matabeleland South and Manicaland provinces.
“We imported the machine from China,” she said.
“The installation is done. What we are just waiting for is connection of electricity which we expect to be done this week. The plant will produce 100 000 clay bricks daily. We believe the investment would be of great service to the southern provinces because hardware suppliers and customers have been travelling to Harare or Bulawayo to buy clay bricks.
“That obviously came with extra costs if you factor in the transport and time to travel to and from Harare or Bulawayo on top of the price of the product. Now, they have a plant to make high quality, competitively-priced bricks near them.
“It means our people would be able to buy a wide range of high quality bricks at lower prices than they have been buying them for over the years.”
Through its products, Sando Brick and Tile, she said, would help reduce demand for cement, which many companies and individuals in parts of the southern region were using to make bricks.
A total of 42 jobs have been created with the staff complement expected to increase to at least 100 by the end of the year.
The plant is situated 40km east of Masvingo city, adjacent to a large reserve of clay.
“We are sitting on a lot of material,” said Ms Matuke.
“We forecast that we would be producing using available clay for the next 30 to 40 years.”
She said the company seeks to contribute towards the achievement of national socio-economic development goals in terms of job creation, infrastructural development, modernisation of the country and foreign currency generation.
“President Mnangagwa has enunciated Vision 2030,” she said.
“He wants the country to achieve upper middle income status by 2030. We have created jobs for 42 youths and by
December when we project we would be operating full throttle, we are looking at increasing the jobs to 100. There is going to be a substantial downstream effect as well. Vision 2030 cannot be achieved if we are not building, if we are not creating jobs. For us, this plant is our contribution towards achievement of that vision.”
The plant, Ms Matuke added, has capacity to produce, in addition to various brick types – floor and roofing tiles.
“The first step is to make bricks – your load-bearing, your common bricks and so on. Thereafter, we will add floor and roofing tiles. We see a lot of potential for growth in those areas. We hope to export as well so that we contribute to foreign currency generation,” she said.
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