VP Mujuru winds Bangalore tour

heavy engineering manufacturing company which makes heavy duty mining and construction equipment, rail and metro rolling stock such as metro car, wagons, coaches and rail laying equipment.
HMT International is also an international engineering conglomerate that specialises in manufacturing engineering equipment for small and large enterprises, tractors, bearings and watches. The Vice Presdient’s first stop was the BEML metro and rail manufacturing plant where she had the opportunity to see the manufacturing of coaches and electric metro cars.
She also saw an assortment of heavy duty lorries that are suited for a variety of uses that were on display at the plant some of which can move in areas without roads. BEML chairperson and managing director, Mr Viellore Natarajan, who hosted a dinner for the Vice President and her delegation on Wednesday, reiterated that his company was keen to do business with Zimbabwe. He said it was prepared to set up an assembly plant in Zimbabwe.
“My company is looking at long term relationships with Zimbabwe and if volumes of business justify the installation of an assembly plant in your country then my company is prepared to do so. The setting up of such structures will work well with our vision to make Zimbabwe a distribution hub for the region and Africa,” he said.
In response VP Mujuru who was impressed by what she saw, said there was need for trucks to carry grain from the Grain Marketing Board to different parts of the country to feed people following poor harvests this year.
“This is one of the issues that I discussed with the Minister of Transport before I came here. I am partly interested in your trucks that can move through areas without proper roads,” she said
Commenting on the rail and metro equipment, the VP Mujuru said such machinery was key to solving transport woes especially in Harare and its satellite towns.
“We need a rail metro system to link Harare to the five or six satellite towns surrounding it which include Chitungwiza, Norton and Ruwa among others. We have industries that are based in Bulawayo that are in the same business as you and we like a situation where you can come in and assist them to develop their capacity to build such equipment in Zimbabwe,” she said.
She added that BEML was already guaranteed of markets outside Zimbabwe as the Bulawayo-based companies already had markets in countries such as Botswana. Mr Natarajan said his company was prepared to send officials to Bulawayo to carry out a due dillegence. company will see how it could assist. At HMT Limited the VP saw some lathe machines and some engineering equipment suited for small and medium enterprises. Chairman and managing director HMT Limited Mr Sangi Sridhar, whose company is setting up technology centres in Harare and Bulawayo, said they were keen to build on their friendship through providing further support for SMEs.