MUTARE– Despite procuring hundreds of buses imported from China and Belarus, government now says it will consider local bus manufacturers to assemble coaches for its ambitious mass public transport system.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, made these remarks during a tour of local industry, saying this is part of an initiative to encourage the purchase of locally manufactured goods.
Professor Ncube said supporting local industries and value chains will spur domestic local economic growth, with incremental benefits for both the economy and the people.
“We are trying to increase our fleet of buses so that our citizens are able to be transported cheaply. So we naturally need companies to supply us with buses and locally manufactured cars.
“We need to promote the ‘Buy Zimbabwe’ mantra as it is important for us to support our local value chains and industries. A lot of it has to do with the incentive system that we need to put in place for that to happen.
“That is exactly what we are developing and fine-tuning to make sure that we make local goods more attractive than foreign products. So you will find that our policy will be changing in that direction to make sure we support domestication of local value chains.”
Quest Motors general manager Tom Sarimana said government needs to develop a local procurement policy that compels its departments to source vehicles locally.
Sarimana said signing a deal to supply government will boost production capacity, create 4 000 to 4 500 jobs directly and indirectly, as Quest Motors is currently operating less than 5 per cent capacity utilization.
“Mutare has the only vehicle assembly company outside Harare and this is a positive for the devolution programme. All we are asking is for Government to buy from us; we need orders,” he said.
Professor Ncube besides Quest Motors also toured, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) distribution company Mega Market, cooking oil manufacturer Willowton Zimbabwe and filter manufacturing company Kenrose Filters.
On Kenrose Filters he said government was ready to chip in and assist the firm which he said embodies the ingenuity of local manufacturers despite minimal support.
“Kenrose Filters is linked to the motor industry ecosystem. It is amazing what local engineers can do with support. We, as Government, should support local industries in our vehicle sourcing and also in bus manufacturing. We will see more of this happening over time,” he said.
As the austerity measures under Transitional Stabilization Plan (TSP) draw to an end government will launch a new economic blueprint, the National Development Strategy with incentives to boost local productivity and consumption of locally produced goods.
Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba bemoaned deindustrialization in the provinces as offsetting the pace of economic growth.
Dr Gwaradzimba said revival of key industries in Manicaland would not only push national economic growth but drive the devolution agenda to fruition and help the province to grow its economy.
“Our worry has been seeing these companies struggling as we are moving into the devolution project, where we want to see industry grow and emphasize on production and producing for the export markets.
“But the rate at which things were moving has been very slow, so we are pleased that Government now has an appreciation of the situation on the ground and understand the plight of our industry,” she said.
Quest Motors and Willowvale Motor Industries (WMI), which are country’s foremost vehicle assemblers, insist they are capable of quality vehicles which can match imported sport utility vehicles (SUVs).
