Story by Kenias Chivuzhe
THE Mutoko Bioeconomy Industrial Park in Mashonaland East Province is set to be commissioned next week, marking another milestone in the government’s rural industrialisation drive and efforts to commercialise research and innovation.
Preparations for the launch are at an advanced stage, with key production facilities now operational at the industrial park.
Finealt Engineering Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr Patrick Mpala said the biodiesel plant has been upgraded, while the cooking oil and soap manufacturing plants are fully operational.
“We are the bioeconomy people. Here where we are, we have got the biodiesel plant, we have got the soap-making plant and we got the cooking oil plant.”
He said the facility will continue expanding to include a stock feed manufacturing plant.
“The soap plant…is going to be producing about 4 000 small bars of soap per hour and 2 000 big bars per hour. Then biodiesel has a capacity of producing 27,000 litres per day. We have upgraded from the 3 000 which we used to have to 27 000 litres per day. The cooking oil plant produces 5,000 litre per day.”
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Professor Fanuel Tagwira said the industrial park is a practical demonstration of the implementation of the Education 5.0 model and forms part of the government’s rural industrialisation agenda.
“We are here for the preparations for the commissioning of the Mutoko Bioeconomy Industrial Park. The park comprises a cooking oil manufacturing plant, a biodiesel plant and a soap production plant. There are other plants which are also going to come up here. This is phase one of this particular project.”
He added that the project is expected to be commissioned on July 9 by President Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“This industrial park is answering to his excellency’s call that we need rural industrialisation. So, we are creating this as a model and we have started with Mutoko and we will spread to other parts of the country… This is part of Education 5.0. Every structure you see here was put up by our polytechnics and our universities and our apprentices as part of the drive of heritage-based Education 5.0.”
The Mutoko Bioeconomy Industrial Park is expected to promote value addition and beneficiation through heritage-based research and innovation while creating new economic opportunities for surrounding communities.
