Story by Owen Mandovha
THE Government continues to unlock the mining sector’s potential to spearhead the attainment of Vision 2030, with the commissioning of a giant multi-million-dollar Mining Industrial Park set for next month.
The country is now earning record foreign currency inflows, riding on a remarkable transformation and growth of the mining industry over the past five years.
The reopening of closed mines and the establishment of new ones has sustained this trajectory towards meeting an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
In his guest lecture at the Zimbabwe National Defence University (ZNDU), Mines and Mining Development Minister Honourable Winston Chitando revealed that another multimillion-dollar mining venture to be commissioned within the next few weeks will spur economic growth through job creation and industrialisation.
“The mining industrial park in Beitbridge which will be commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa will produce electricity from coal mined at River Ranch. This project will not only grow the gross domestic product of Matebeleland South province,” Minister Chitando said.
Minister Chitando also said another project to anchor Zimbabwe’s upper middle-income society status, the Muzarabani Gas project, will help sustain the country’s energy security.
“The Muzarabani Oil and Gas project is progressing well and they are continuing to drill more wells as indications are that there are extensive gas reserves. The company has plans to establish a gas to energy plant that will eradicate the country’s power changes.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s policy reforms in the mining sector have been credited for accelerating the growth of the extractive industry, attracting huge investments, creating massive employment opportunities, growing the economy and transforming livelihoods as the country journeys towards Vision 2030.
