Maravi

Zesco to start manufacturing transformers

Zesco to start manufacturing transformers
By Joan Chirwa
Tuesday October 23, 2007 [04:00]

Zesco Limited managing director Rhodnie Sisala has said plans to start producing transformers locally would raise the country’s competitiveness in terms of exports of finished industrial goods. The power utility has entered into a partnership with El-Sewedy Electronics – an Egyptian firm specialised in electricals – to establish two factories in Ndola for the manufacturing of transformers and electric meters.

Sisala, in an interview, said he is optimistic that the venture, once fully established in Zambia, would be expanded in order to meet the demand of the export market as well.

He noted that with the increasing demand for electricity in the region and efforts of countries to enhance power generation and transmission within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, Zambia is likely to earn a lot of foreign exchange from the export of transformers and electric meters.

“There are two factories that we are setting up. The first one is for the manufacturing of transformers in Ndola. The main components that go into the transformer are steel tank made of steel.

The second part is the copper winding which is the most expensive and the third part in the manufacturing of transformers is insulating oil,” Sisala said.

“We mine copper in Zambia and all of it is exported and we get it back in finished goods. All we are going to be doing now is to add value to copper which is mined locally in the manufacturing of transformers and this will reduce the cost of the product in the region.”

Sisala said the joint venture between Zesco Limited and El-Sewedy Electronics is likely to boost Zambia’s base metal industry, considering that copper was the most critical and expensive component in transformer production.

“This business will be part of adding value to our copper. As we go into the future, we see the business expanding and we will be exporting the transformers instead of exporting copper cathodes which we have been doing,” Sisala said.

“The Ndola City Council has given us some land and we have already done up the designs for the factory and all we are waiting for is approval of the plans.

Through this project, jobs will be generated and we will be able to provide a much better and efficient service to our customers. Zambia as a country will also contribute to high technology exports.”

Sisala said construction of the transformer manufacturing factory is expected to begin early next year, and production likely to kick off before the end of the year.

“We should be through with construction works by August next year and production of transformers is then expected to start towards the end of the year,” Sisala said.

“The second venture we have with El-Sewedy is the manufacturing of electric meters. One of the biggest issues is to ensure that all our customers are metered and by manufacturing these in Zambia, we will be able to reach our target as well as create jobs for a number of the unemployed youths in the country.”

Sisala noted that the utility’s import bill on electric consumables such as meters would drastically reduce as the commodities will be manufactured locally.

“The meters will be cheaper than sourcing them from outside. Prices will be much lower because we will not have to pay duty and value added tax (VAT) that have been increasing costs of these products,” Sisala said.

“These two projects we have embarked on are aimed at improving service delivery in the electricity sector in Zambia. For the meter factory, there is a building which we have bought.

We are trying to make new designs for this building and once that is done, we will begin with renovations and we are expected to start manufacturing by March next year.”

Labels: MANUFACTURING, ZESCO

posted by MrK @ 3:41 AM