Online Reporter
Precious Manomano-Herald Reporter
ZESA Enterprises should move beyond being a support workshop for the power utility and become a major manufacturing hub for electricity equipment, Energy and Power Development Minister July Moyo has said.
He said this yesterday after touring the ZENT manufacturing plant in Harare, where he inspected the production of transformers and other equipment.
Minister Moyo said the ongoing expansion and rehabilitation of ZESA’s power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure presented an opportunity to deepen local manufacturing and reduce reliance on imports.
“When we decided to say no, let us turn it from a workshop to an enterprise, we meant it,” he said.
“It is no longer the workshop for ZESA; it is an enterprise, and enterprises must do enterprising jobs.”
Minister Moyo said Government should deliberately identify electricity equipment that could be manufactured locally as the country expanded its power infrastructure.
“While imports will continue to have a role, particularly where specialised technologies are not yet available locally, we must increasingly be saying to ourselves that there are things which we can do for ourselves,” he said.
Minister Moyo said transformers were among the critical equipment that Zimbabwe should increasingly produce locally as electricity access expanded.
“Those transformers must be coming from Zimbabwe. But since Zimbabwe is open for business, we allow others to come and do their work in Zimbabwe, including transformers,” he said.
ZENT was challenged to work with private companies, research institutions and international partners to develop an industrial ecosystem around the energy sector.
The company is already working with Chinese firms on projects such as switchgear development and the galvanising of transmission towers, which could facilitate technology transfer and expand local production.
ZESA Holdings acting chief executive Engineer Cletus Nyachowe said ZENT was positioning itself to increase production of equipment required for electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
He said the country’s drive to expand electricity connections would create increased demand for locally manufactured equipment, including materials and fittings for networks serving urban and rural communities.
Eng Nyachowe said ZENT was pursuing partnerships to supply electricity equipment and materials to ZESA, the region and other export markets.
He said ZENT had been retained as a special-purpose vehicle focused on manufacturing, allowing it to expand its business model and supply more materials to the wider ZESA group.
Buy Zimbabwe chairman Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere said increasing local content in public procurement would help retain more value within the domestic economy.
He said some products supplied by companies classified as local were still substantially imported, making it important to measure the actual local content of goods entering the public procurement system.
