Online Reporter
Mukudzei Chingwere in New Delhi, India
WILLOWVALE Motor Industry has set aside US$5 million to kickstart the freshly signed assembly agreement with global vehicle manufacturing conglomerate Ashok Leyland, The Herald has been advised.
The US$5 million war chest will be used to purchase assembly kits for the buses and trucks to be assembled in Harare under the first phase of the agreement.
From then on Ashok Leyland will start disbursing the kits to Willowvale Motor Industry on a pay later facility as per market demand under the partnership.
The deal has been in the works since 2021 and modalities had already been agreed upon pending final signature, which now has since been signed during Vice-President Dr Constantino Chiwenga’s working visit here.
VP Chiwenga is here primarily for the 20th India Africa Business Conclave over and above scouting for more investment and partnership, he also took advantage of his presence to ensure the conclusion of the discussions which had stalled.
Yesterday, Ashok Leyland executives paid a courtesy call on VP Chiwenga and emerged from the meeting to tell journalists that they have big investment plans for Zimbabwe that will soon see the rolling out of electric buses and other exciting projects.
Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ) Chief Executive Officer Mr Edward Tome, the holding company that owns Willowvale Motor Industry announced the availability of the funds and future plans.
“The shareholder Mutapa Investment Fund has set aside US$5 million for the initial procurement of the kits for the buses and trucks,” said Mr Tome.
“The US$5 million will be revolving over time and we will also go into further discussions with Ashok Leyland to then continue supplying us the kits for the buses and trucks overtime through letters of credit.
“The agreement with Ashok Leyland and Willowvale ensures that we will achieve a minimum of 30 percent of componentry manufacturing in Zimbabwe.
“This therefore means immediately as Zimbabwe we can start looking into the parts we can manufacture locally and reduce the importation of certain kits parts from Ashok.
“This apply to buses and trucks and what may come to mind quickly is to start doing the internal upholstery, the bus seats, the truck seats within Zimbabwe and then also with time start doing the major components within Zimbabwe for as long as they meet the original manufacturer specifications who are Ashok.
“The sky is the limit for us in terms of localisation of the spare parts, but we want to scale it up in no time to be able to reach 50 percent. As we start the assembly the market is the region and beyond,” said Mr Tome.
Speaking to the media here yesterday after the executives from Ashok Leyland met VP Chiwenga, the company’s vice president corporate affairs Mr Yash Pal Sachar said they have even bigger plans for Zimbabwe which include manufacturing of electric vehicles in Zimbabwe in future.
“We at Ashok Leyland have big plans for local assembly of vehicles and buses and trucks and Willowvale is our partner there,” said Mr Sachar.
“Phase two of this scheme we also have our electric wing, switch mobility, so we are leaders in electric mobility the buses in India and London.
“Ours is an ultra-modern type and we believe we can provide good resource on zero mobility in Zimbabwe,” said Mr Sachar.
