Government has commended Grindale engineering a civil construction, irrigation and production of industrial manufacturing company for creating employment for youths in Mashonaland West province.
Speaking during a tour held at the company premises on Tuesday, Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Marian Chombo said the company’s operations are in line with Vision 2030 of Zimbabwe becoming an upper middle income economy.
” I feel so proud to be associated with this company, and most of your challenges for you to grow, they are challenges that I’m supposed to address as the Minister of State. I was very impressed with the equipment that you have acquired from humble beginnings to where you are now.
” We have many of your kind, especially in the engineering field, who benefited, especially in the Second Republic, and I think it’s one of the companies that we are going to make sure that His Excellency comes to visit.
“It’s really working, especially for our youths. I was so impressed when I was asking the Managing Director, he told me that permanent employees are plus or minus 1,000. And as you can see, 90% of the workers are youths, and we feel proud that you are one of the major employers within the province, with about 62% of the population,” she said.
Speaking during the event, Grindale Engineering Marketing and Business Development Executive Elvis Kugarakuripi appealed to the government for the company to be enabled to participate in national projects.
“The new city model is within our province. Therefore we are appealing to the ministry to help us to participate in the construction and other infrastructure projects being undertaken. For the purpose of industrialisation, Grindale Engineering would like the ministry to help it identify and collaborate with international companies. The world today requires lots of collaborations. You can’t do everything on your own. So we need partners whom we can work with to drive our vision,” he said.
“As Grindale, like any other industrial concern, we are faced with irregular power supply and high electricity tariffs, which makes our cost of production a bit high. For us to effectively participate in the regional market we’ve got to be very price competitive and hence our production cost must be reasonable.
“The other challenge we face is access to funding for retooling, infrastructure development and working capital. Then we’re also facing competition from imports, which are cheaper and serve, unfortunately, their poor quality.
“Then we also face persistent foreign currency shortages and exchange rate fluctuations, which makes it a bit difficult for the company. Then the other challenge we have is land for accommodation to house companies’ employees within the proximity of the operation. You realise that most of our employees they come within greater Harare,” he added.
Responding to this the Minister said “For Grindale to succeed in this industrialisation drive, the government will facilitate the provision of a conducive business environment including, but not limited to, simplifying the regulatory procedures and facilitate reduction of high utility costs, that’s clean water and electricity, and compliance burdens, reducing bureaucratic hurdles, especially in local authorities and municipalities, promoting transparency and accountability.
“Promoting industrial transformation through research and innovation, promoting the use of smart manufacturing and digital industrialisation technologies, optimising value chain linkages with key sectors, such as energy, to alleviate power outages, accessing council land to build accommodation for employees and also management.”
As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Greendale has done renovations of Chinhoyi Hospital, Kadoma Hospital, Mubaira Clinic, Ngezi Police Station, over 700 Turf houses for Zimplats employees, Wanganui High School Laboratory, and Gwebi College, all through Zimplats.
