PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has arrived in Bulawayo where he is scheduled to officially open the $2 billion Hopeville Housing Project and commission a $2 million tomato processing plant in the City.

He was welcomed at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport by Vice President Kembo Mohadi, Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube, Cabinet Ministers, senior government and Zanu PF officials.

Sondelani Ranching owned by Peter Cunningham launched the $2 million state-of-the-art tomato processing plant for the production of tomato paste in Bulawayo in June this year.

Co-director Reverend Patson Netha said the plant has the capacity to process 150 tonnes or over 1,5 million tomatoes.

Most of the plant’s machinery was sourced from China while the other components were shipped from Italy at a cost of about $1 million with the total cost of setting up the factory being close to $2 million.

South Africa imports about 30 000 tonnes of tomato paste annually while the other big importers are the Democratic Republic of Congo (16 630t), Angola (16 000t) and Namibia (1 208t).

The Hopeville Housing Project is a $2 billion up-market satellite town spearheaded by Thompson Properties. The first stage of the project began with the servicing of residential stands whose size range from 500 square metres to more than 1 000 square metres.

The entire project, which can be equated to Kempton Park in neighbouring South Africa, will see the construction of 20 000 plush and affluent houses, up-market shopping malls as well as state-of-the-art recreational facilities.

The housing development will be carried out in three stages with stage one, which is estimated to cost more than $100 million, comprising homes, a shopping complex, gymnasium, library, three schools, local authority offices as well as land reserved for the construction of churches.

State Media