By A Correspondent| Bryden Country School in Mashonaland West’s Chegutu Town is fighting against the construction of a cement manufacturing project with the capacity of 800,000 tons per annum earmarked to employ at 800 directly at full capacity, this publication reports.

The investment is by Shuntai Investments Private Limited (Shuntai). This comes as Zimbabwe battles a shortage of cement and high cost to develop economy, having to rely on imports, which are also being smuggled as local manufacturers fail to meet growing demand.

Besides the Chegutu 800,000 tons per annum cement manufacturing project, the company is also planning to build a large-scale cement and lime factory in Bindura district, which consists of a 1,200,000 tons per annum cement production line and a 600,000 tons per annum lime production line.

In Bulawayo, we will build a grinding station with the capacity of 400,000 tons cement per annum. By then, the company will be able to provide a joint production of 3,000,000 tons of cement and lime and create more than thousands of jobs for the local communities. The cement and lime will satisfy the requirement of the building industry and metallurgical industry, in the meantime, will facilitate the fast growth of the relevant industries in the country.

Despite having been furnished with documentation last year, the primary school authorities sensationally allege exclusion from consultative processes, including an ongoing environmental impact assessment. As a result, the school took to social media, decampaigning the project and mobilizing parents and the community against the cement plant.

Indications are that Bryden authorities fear possible dust or air pollution, noise pollution, and water pollution and are also concerned about traffic movement, given the proximity of the school to the project.

Shuntai general manager Bin Zhou allayed all fears, saying the cement plant uses the latest technology,, which keeps noise, air and water pollution well below stipulated standards in the country.

“This technology is quite advanced and traps air at an efficiency of 95%, it also uses equipment that is near silent to the extent one doesn’t hear much noise within our boundaries and the plant design uses underground water which will be recycled and used over and over again with the little that will be disposed of used to water our small gardens,” he told this publication.

Zhou said the company is open to input from all stakeholders as it finalizes its mine plan for implementation once all approvals are in place.

“We are flexible and open to improvements where possible and, of course, subject to approvals from authorities. We even met the Bryden board on Monday where, among other things, we agreed on constructing a road as far away from the school as possible and keeping the school updated on every stage.”

Shuntai on Monday held a meeting at Bryden and toured the school thereafter. The meeting was chaired by Bryden board chairman Ahmed Noor.

Giving an update, Zhou said the company went on site in late January and is currently constructing staff accommodation. In the current phase, the project employs 250 workers, the majority of whom are locals.

He also said the company has already built modern houses for at least 14 families that were relocated and compensated.

“The community gets priority and they get first preference on all unskilled labour and where they have skills that are required elsewhere. We also plan to ensure women are given are prioritized across all departments,”Zhou added.

Once all approvals are secured, construction of the plant is expected to take 10 months to start production of cement.