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Brighton Gumbo Business Reporter
A BULAWAYO construction company, Neddick Industries, has invested about $300,000 in setting up a factory in the city, which is set for commissioning in June.
In an interview last week, the company marketing and sales manager, Bekithemba Ndlovu, said they have been operating from rented premises at Kelvin North industrial site for the past 10 years..
He said they have since acquired from Bulawayo City Council about 10,000 square metres of land in Kelvin North Industrial site at a cost of $17,000.
Ndlovu said they have been developing their factory site since last April.
“If all goes well, we’re hoping to open our own industrial site in June this year. We’ve managed to wall our premises and other building processes are still in progress,” he said.
“We’ll be specialising in brick moulding, casting and paving, among others.”
Ndlovu said at the moment they were producing a maximum of 50,000 standard bricks per day, a figure which they intend to maintain when the new plant starts operating.
“Last year was a tough year for everyone in business, but as a company we managed to sail through and recorded sound financials though I can’t disclose the figures of our revenues,” he said.
However, Ndlovu said during the hyperinflationary period in 2008, their business was negatively impacted by the prevailing economic conditions.
In 2015, the Zimbabwe Building Constructors Association said capacity utilisation in the sector for the year remained depressed at below 30 percent.
This was due to the prevailing economic climate that saw limited infrastructural development projects taking place.
Infrastructural development has been noted as one of the fundamentals critical to promoting economic recovery as the government and the private sector have made concerted efforts to turn around the economy.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu