The renowned Gweru-based cement manufacturing company, Sino Zimbabwe Cement, has reportedly announced that it would commission its brick and tile manufacturing facility from next month. The move, as per sources, is anticipated to eventually scale up the company’s brick and tile production.
For the record, more than 80% of the construction of the brick and tile manufacturing plant has already been completed.
As per trusted reports, the Chinese government, through Sinoma (China National Materials Group Corporation) and CBMC (China Building Materials Corporation), that incidentally owns a controlling stake in SZCC (Sino Zimbabwe Cement Company), has committed to establishing the brick and tile plant worth approximately USD 50 million.
According to a press release, Mr. Wang Yong, Managing Director of SZCC claims that the brick molding plant will effectively meet international standards and will boast of manufacturing a highly innovative product portfolio.
The plant would be equipped with advanced machinery for brick molding and similar modern technologies making it capable of producing face bricks which reportedly, had once been imported from Botswana and South Africa, claims Mr. Yong.
As per sources familiar with the knowledge of the matter, initially the plant would produce 60 million bricks on an annual basis. However upon being fully operational the plant would be capable of yielding about 100 million tons of bricks every year.
Incidentally, SZCC’s entire line of state-of the-art equipment is imported from China. The company, which as per sources is one of the three top cement manufacturers in the country, boasts of an annual production capacity of around 300 000 tons of Portland Cement.
Reportedly, Sino Cement Zimbabwe is currently operating at a 90% and is looking forward to scaling up its production. In addition, the company plans to increase its workforce from its current 400 employees, upon the successful completion of the project.