Zimbabwean official hails Chinese steel firm for championing SADC industrialization agenda

A worker is busy at the Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) in Manhize, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe, on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

A senior Zimbabwean government official has commended Chinese firm Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) for championing the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region's efforts toward industrialization.

HARARE, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- A senior Zimbabwean government official on Friday commended Chinese firm Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) for championing the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region's efforts toward industrialization.

The integrated steel manufacturing plant set up in Zimbabwe's Midlands Province will not only upscale industrialization in Zimbabwe but in the entire southern African region, said Willard Manungo, deputy chief secretary for Policy Analysis, Coordination and Development Planning in the Office of the Zimbabwean President and Cabinet.

He told Xinhua on the sidelines of the steel plant tour by local and foreign delegates to the SADC Industrialization Week, which concluded in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare Friday, that the massive project will revitalize and help unlock the economic and industrial potential of Zimbabwe, SADC, and the entire African continent.

"At its optimum, the plant is touted to become one of the largest integrated steel works on the African continent, and the output coming out of this plant will be adequate to support the entire SADC region and beyond," Manungo said. "And when we talk of industrialization at the national and SADC levels, the value addition under the steel sector is one of the cornerstones of overall industrialization of any country or any region, and we fully appreciate this investment that has been undertaken by the Dinson Group in Zimbabwe."

Workers are busy at the Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) in Manhize, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe, June 20, 2024. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

Manungo said Zimbabwe is poised to benefit immensely from employment creation and export generation, with spillover benefits regarding supportive infrastructure around the factory. Excess energy from the power plant that is being set up at the steel plant will be fed into the national power grid, helping alleviate power shortages in the country and region.

He also suggested Zimbabwe should draw lessons from the experiences of the Dinson Group and utilize that model to embrace more Chinese investments into other sectors of the economy, such as agro-industry, to boost value addition.

"We are grateful as the government in terms of the readiness of the Chinese to identify with the benefits as defined by ourselves as Zimbabwe. We are grateful that as we work with China, we are working with a partner that is ready to identify with the development thrust of Zimbabwe," Manungo said.

In June, the steel plant started the production of pig iron. According to its roadmap, DISCO is expected to produce 600,000 metric tons of carbon steel in the first phase of the project, rising to 1.2 million, then 3.2 million, and ultimately 5 million metric tons per year in the final phase.