The story of Manhize, Disco Steel Works
Mashonaland West’s vast deposits of high grade iron ore at Manhize are enough to last for the next 200 years. These are about to be exploited by a Chinese Company, Dinson. Next to that vast resource, in the Midlands Province, a giant steel plant – the largest on the African continent – is steadily taking shape. Its impact will be felt in three provinces: Midlands itself, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland East. It will also be felt in neighbouring Mozambique where a whole port to handle steel exports from Zimbabwe is set to be developed.
As I write, Dinson Iron and Steel Company, Disco, has already assembled on site all the materials required for the first phase of the Steels project, which will be implemented in three phases. This US$1billion project’s first phase is set to be completed early next year, possibly by March at the latest. Already, it is employing over 600 Zimbabweans, with the total workforce projected to exceed 3 000 when fully operational.
Soon after the first phase, Disco will produce 1.2-million tonnes of steel, the largest on the African continent. When complete, Zimbabwe’s steel production will gallop to more than 3-million tonnes, thus making us a global steel supplier.
Infrastructural spin-offs
Infrastructural projects concomitant with the steels plant are numerous, all of them impactful. A new high-voltage power line will run from Sherwood to Manhize. An all-weather access road will tear off the Masvingo-Harare Highway to the plant. A new railway line will run from Manhize to Mvuma, extending our rail footprint. A sizeable dam will be constructed along Munyati River, impacting contiguous resettlement areas through irrigation.
In respect of the whole economy, steel companies, which folded in the wake of Zisco’s collapse, will resurrect from the graveyard. New steels projects altogether will also come on stream, turning Manhize into a buoyant steels sector. The impact downstream is vast, with a mini-city set to sprout from what until now has been a swathe of virgin land bordered by a mountain range.
Not less than 20 000 jobs will be created downstream. Billions will be saved through the substitution of steel imports; many more billions will be earned by way of exports. Above all, with steel locally available, the Zimbabwean economy is set to transform from light to heavy industries capable of manufacturing capital goods and materials needed in large infrastructures.
This week, I have elected to share these economic vignettes which I have drawn from our eight spatial provinces simply to show a lot is happening in our economy. Not many see these developments which are unfolding beneath the common gaze, and certainly beyond flippant headlines. Yet this is a great story which we are slowly but surely writing, in spite of illegal sanctions which were designed to break us.
Our detractors who include local players relish painting a picture of gloom and doom in order to induce despondency in our nation. Yet the story of our economy which is on the rebound is being noticed by many, principally investors, the World Bank and even the International Monetary Fund. What makes it even more spectacular is the fact that it is home-grown to the extent it is unfolding without external borrowing.
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