dyton mupawaenda
Nyore Madzianike
ALL is set for the grand opening of a multimillion-dollar cigarette manufacturing plant in the Lochinvar industrial area of Harare.
High-tech engineers and specialists from various multinational companies drawn from around the world are putting final touches on the facility.
Cut Rag Processing manufacturing plant is set to start operating in June.
Currently, specialists are undertaking final laps on a test run on machinery and equipment before officially handing over the plant to the local company’s management, paving way for its grand commissioning.
Senior Government officials are expected to witness the official commissioning of the plant, which represents an investment of nearly US$100 million.
The company’s managing director, Mr Leslie Malunga, confirmed the development, saying they were waiting for specialists to certify the plant ready for production before opening.
Mr Malunga indicated that the physical structures are complete, with a few needing sprucing up to specialists’ recommendations.
“The buildings are about 95 percent complete. There are just a few issues, like any other construction project, but nonetheless, we can occupy the building,” he said.
“What is left now is obviously the machines on site. The guys are installing machines for the plant and that is maybe almost 80 percent complete.
“We are conducting the testing phase with the machine suppliers. Once we have tested the machines, we should be able to commence production.
“I would say probably production would commence in June, but sometimes, you never know with suppliers, things can progress faster and it could be earlier.”
Mr Malunga indicated that they expect to multiply tobacco exports once production commences.
He indicated that they intend to penetrate the regional and international markets, although they will first focus on domestic markets.
“In terms of capacity, I think it’s almost triple what we have now and obviously we intend to grow the local market,” he said.
“We intend to look for more cut rag exports where there is an opportunity to export cut rag because it gives value addition to the tobacco that we produce locally.
“So, I think that is one of our key areas in terms of value addition of tobacco into cut rag and export of cut rag within the region.”
Mr Malunga indicated that they are looking forward to exploring the Asian markets once they open shop and explore other international markets.
“Asia is one of the biggest markets, so obviously in terms of exploring, we will be exploring such markets as well,” he said.
“But at the moment, we have been doing mostly regional. With the state-of-the art plant, we should bring more efficiencies and with more efficiencies, obviously, it should be able to add value to the customer’s supply chain from where they are getting their cut rag from.”
Online Reporter