NEW Zim Steel chief executive officer Vinod Arora has pledged that his company will deal mainly with indigenous companies in Redcliff and Kwekwe before targeting cheap imports.
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Speaking to our sister paper NewsDay, Arora — who is part of Essar Africa’s top management — said New Zim Steel would follow the laws of Zimbabwe on recruitment and procurement procedures.
“We will follow the laws of this country, but I assure you that we will not be bringing labour from India and neither will we be procuring locally available consumables from India or outside Zimbabwe. We will only outsource what is not available locally,” he said.
Essar has since started working on building a new iron and steel producing plant after government headliners agreed to release mineral rights to Essar Africa holdings following a two-year deadlock.
Arora said most of the equipment was being imported from China because it was new technology not available in India.
“We want to have access to modern technology in iron and steel production and this technology is not even available in India so we have given a Chinese contractor the job to come and do the work. As we speak some of the components have already been ordered and are at sea,” he said.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Kwekwe branch had expressed concern over the tendency by big corporates to import even small things such as flip charts and bond paper from China and not buying from local companies.
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“Essar should not come here to just pay salaries, but they should add value by working with local business and ensuring that there is growth in Redcliff and Kwekwe. Local companies should be given preference at New Zim Steel,” said ZNCC Kwekwe branch chairman Lee Sithole.
India ambassador to Zimbabwe Jeitendra Tripathi, said companies from his country operated differently from others who when investing in Zimbabwe brought all their employees.
“I will not name anyone, but we don’t behave like our friends from other countries who come with all their workers from their countries and open shops here. We will employ locals and add value,” he said.
President Robert Mugabe recently bashed the Chinese accusing them of importing labour into Zimbabwe ahead of locals who are left jobless.
