CHINESE firm that provides steel products, Good Time Steel Zambia Limited is establishing a K1 billion steel manufacturing plant in Lusaka in response to the high demand for its products in Zambia.
Sales and marketing manager Hunter Young said at the on-going Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) that his company was expanding in Zambia because of the high demand for steel products.
Mr Young said because of the potential Zambia have his company had since started putting up a steel plant in Lusaka.
“We started constructing a plant in Lusaka early this year and it is set for completion this September. It will cost about K1 billion and we have employed 100 workers,” he said.
Mr Young said the firm was engaged in buying scrap metal from local people to help empower individuals in Zambia.
In interpreting this year’s ZITF theme, “Creating synergies beyond borders,” Mr Young said the company believed in trading with different countries and supplying them with different steel products to promote efficiency and work as a team.
The firm exports to various countries such as South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda.
Good Time Steel Company also supplied steel for the construction of the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
In Lusaka it had invested more than K130 billion to expand the scope of company business by establishing a new section which would produce the much needed angle iron.
This amount includes the cost incurred during procurement of the machinery and for setting up the angle iron and window section which had since reached an advanced stage.
Angle irons which are used mainly in manufacturing of window flames and also needed in the construction industry would be the latest in the company’s product line.
[Times of Zambia]
Whoever said investers lack confidence in H.E.M.C.S and The PF Government wasnt talking about Them.. Mukalalanda imwe kumisulafye..
Ok now these Chinese its just too much nangu ni investment. They dont pay well and have poor safety records.. There must be some serious agreement previous government made with them. They are well come provided conditions of service are good enough for employees to complain less
Thats exactly the problem!They come to do it in Zambia!What should happen is that Zambian companies buy the steel in China and process and sell it in Zambia.We do export copper to China and no Zambian company goes to China to process the copper into finished products!Lets wake up from slumber.GOD BLESS ZAMBIA.
Thats exactly the problem!They come to do it in Zambia!What should happen is that Zambian companies buy the steel in China and process and sell it in Zambia.We do export copper to China and no Zambian company goes to China to process the copper into finished products!Lets wake up from slumber.We need to create genuine employment. GOD BLESS ZAMBIA.
I almost fell over my chair when i had about this stell plant, what a joke, is this really the investment that Zambia is looking for? A steel plant (If you can even call it that) worth a comical $200000 should really be laughed at. There are many houses in Zambia that cost more than that. If this is the investors that the country then we have a long way to go.
Small and big, they are welcome. In trading you have small and medium enterprises. In manufacturing? Someone wants to hear a train manufacturing plant or a ship building yard even when we have sea coast. Pa Zambia napo. Mwe.
I meant even when we have NO sea coast. Step by step, all the way…
Is K1 billion the amount announced or the reporter misquoted. The Liato could have established two of them if they were so cheap to comeby.
Yres let the Chinese keep coming, let them invest in zambia and create employment for the youth. But our Govt must ensure that they don’t encourage investors to put up their infructures in Lusaka, we must be seen to discongest Lusaka province. Plants like that are better put up in far-flung places like Kalabo, Chavuma or better still, in Senanga. This way, they will encourage young pipo to go back to the land and work from there.
Atase, whats K1 billion to even report. Better its invested in a Chicken Run.
But this looks like LT misquoting mwe…K1 billion would not even set half a steel company….. old machinery would even cost more than a billion kwacha, may be they mean wholesale depot not manufacturing…yaba….reporting pa Zed is misleading these days before one criticizes one need to validate the info first…this is bad reporting
IMWE WHAT IS ZMK 1 BILLIION, 200,000 USD IS PEANUTS IF ITS 1BILLION USD THAN WE CAN SAY ITS GOOD INVESTMENT OTHERWISE THESE CHINAMAN ARE JUST TAKING THE ZAMBIAN GOVT FOR A RIDE BECAUSE TODAY TO BUY JUST A COMMERCIAL PLOT ON FRREDOMWAY OR CHACHA ROAD COULD EASILY COST OVER 1BILLION ZMK LET ALONE BUYING A PROPERTY. THE GOVT SHOUUD NOT ALLOW CHINAMAN TO INVADE ZAMBIA WITH A CHEAP PROJECT BECAUSE VERY SOON THESE CHINESE WILL BECOME A BIG PROBLEM FOR FOR OUR NEXT FUTURE GENERATION .THE LEBANASE ARE MUCH BETTER AND ARE EASY TO HANDLE BUT NOT THE CHINESE BECAUSE THEY BREED LIKE MOSQUITOS.
Much as we need steel plants in Z K1billion is not enough for such a project. I suspect poor reporting.
Nevertheless the decision to ban dollar pricing is paying off. Check this:
Zambia kwacha hits 7-week high as FX curbs bite
Zambia’s kwacha rallied to its highest level in nearly two months on Monday, driven up by a new law limiting the use of dollars in Africa’s top copper producer that has forced locals to convert hard currency into kwacha, analysts said.
Image: Reuters
No CaptionCommercial banks quoted the kwacha at 5,110/5,160 to the dollar, compared to Friday’s close of 5,140. It traded at a session high of 5,105, a level last seen on May 11, when it traded at 5,080 to the dollar.
K1 Billion doesn’t sound like a large Manufacturing plant more like a metal scrap yard…nevertheless the Govt. should looking to these manufacturers where we purchase all these items from abroad and persuade them to open shop here instead.
The Govt. should thrive to make Zambia the manufacturing or commerce hub of the region by taking advantage of our centrality, thrive to reduce the cost of production by improving transport networks and improving electricity supply, improve comms. networks, create more business friendly policies BUT get the balance right. The PF gov’t should know that gov’ts DO NOT physically create jobs like what Sata is trying to do at defence it is UNIPist’s Outdated MINDSET of a bygone era.
Zambia is a trading post or a retail outlet or a dumping place for goods produced in other countries. The amount indicated shows that what is being reported is not a manufacturing plant but a mere outlet.
These figures need to be verified, article starts with ZMK1.0 billion but inside the body of the article another amount of ZMK130.0 billion is mentioned. Needs clarity before commenting objectively … LT, please clarify … thanks a trillion.
Is this 1 billion kwacha or dollars? Because I know houses in Zambia worth 1 billiion so this can’t be accurate