malvernmugadzikwa
Kuda Bwititi
THE Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco) in Manhize is set to create 25 000 direct jobs and 150 000 employment opportunities in upstream and downstream industries along the value chain within the next five to 10 years.
The plant recently began producing pig iron, an intermediate product used in the manufacture of steel.
Nearly 2 000 people are presently employed at the plant, which is forecast to generate US$5 billion in annual revenues at its peak.
Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando visited the plant on Thursday and expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far.
“What we are seeing here is the production of pig iron. What does this mean? It means we are now moving to the production of steel. In the first phase, 600 000 tonnes per annum, the second phase will be 1,2 million, the third phase is 3,2 million, the fourth phase will be 5 million tonnes. This will make it a US$5 billion steel industry,” he said.
“Economic development is a process . . . This is a project that is in pursuit and in support of the vision towards an upper middle-income economy in 2030 . . . There are many records that are going to be broken here. In terms of jobs, we are talking of massive recruitments and transformation of people’s lives.”
Disco project manager Mr Wilfred Motsi said the iron ore resources at Manhize are estimated to be 4 billion tonnes.
“Of the competitive advantages, one of the major ones is the mineral resource, which is the iron ore resource, which we are proud to say is worth over 4 billion metric tonnes in terms of reserves,” he said.
“We have started the mining and production of pig iron. And as you can see, we have many workers who are busy crushing, as well as evaluating the iron ore, which we are proud to say is one of the richest in terms of grade.”
The plant, which is located at the confluence of Midlands, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West provinces, will employ an estimated 150 000 people when it is operating at full throttle.
“In terms of employment, currently we have over 2 000 workers. We are going to increase to 3 000 workers now that we have started production. In the second phase, 6 000 people will be employed, with 16 000 in the third phase and 25 000 people in the fourth and final phase. That figure, if you multiple by six, will grow to 150 000 because during the last phase, there will be multiple industries benefiting directly and indirectly.”
Over the past three years, the Chinese investors have invested heavily into the plant and worked expeditiously to establish the integrated steelworks.
“We have created what we believe is one of the biggest workshops in Zimbabwe. This will lead to the manufacture of multiple steel products.
‘‘All the components which we are seeing here, most of them were fabricated in that workshop by the Chinese engineers training our local Zimbabwean engineers.”
The plant, he added, also includes an industrial park that will service multiple industries.
“For example, we are going to manufacture hot-rod wires and Zesa (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority) is excited because they said this can also be used for making wires for the transmission of electricity.
“In our industrial park, we have AVM, which has indicated that it is keen to use our workshop to assemble buses. Those buses use tonnes of steel, and we are producing it here.
“We are also working with brick companies, cement manufacturers and steel fabrication companies which use materials that we will produce here; they also indicated their willingness to be part of our industrial park.”
Disco is generating its own 70 megawatts of electricity through power stations set up at the plant. To date, the firm, in addition to supporting surrounding communities, has constructed over 20 modern houses for families that were relocated to pave the way for the project.
Online Reporter