The last time the President had to postpone the launch as his chopper could not take to the skies because of bad weather.
In yet another hallmark of the Second Republic reform and
development agenda, President Mnangagwa is today expected to officially
commission the multi-million dollar medical oxygen and industrial gas plant at
Feruka in Mutare, which has a capacity to meet national needs with room for
exporting.
Dovetailing into President Mnangagwa mantra of building the
country stone by stone, the oxygen plant that was developed by a wholly owned
Government company with local engineers and technicians, also demonstrates the
success of the National Development Strategy-1 which among other issues aims at
retooling and capacitating the country’s industries to meet world standards.
Wholly State-owned company Verify Engineering built the
plant in a demonstration of the Second Republic’s quest to see a highly
industrialised Zimbabwe using locally available resources.
In an interview, Minister of Tertiary Education,
Innovation, Science and Technology Professor Amon Murwira, under whose purview
HIT falls said all is set for Zimbabwe to enter a new and exciting phase where
it meets its oxygen requirements.
“All is set for the launch by President Mnangagwa tomorrow
(today). This is a technology and development entity under the Ministry of
Higher and Tertiary, which will be processing medical and industrial gases. The
plant is now done and we are looking forward for the production of nitrogen and oxgyen,” he said.
Outlining how the project was completed, Prof Murwira
recently said his Ministry got the direction on the way forward from President
Mnangagwa.
“The President gives direction on what needs to be done and
we teach it at our institutions. A nation is built intentionally, not by
accident. Once a nation is able to implement its own programmes, you cannot
stop that nation.”
Prof Murwira said the President gave the national strategic
intention, in Zimbabwe’s case achieving an upper middle income economy under
Vision 2030.
The oxygen plant will among other needs, meet the demand
for hospital oxygen in intensive care units, especially by critically ill
Covid-19 patients.Verify Engineering operates under the Harare Institute of
Technology.
Although the project was started in 2005, it stalled
because of lack of resources. But with the onset of the Second Republic,
adequate resources were channelled into this important national project
resulting in its recent completion.
In an interview last week, Verify Engineering board
chairman, Air Commodore Engineer Dr Edgar Kamusoko, said the completion of the
medical energy and industrial gas plant was a demonstration that Zimbabwean
engineers had the capacity to do the needed work and contribute to the
industrialisation of the country.
“Verify Engineering is a wholly State-owned company meant
to develop innovations and technology for the development of Zimbabwe. It is
under the Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development
Ministry and we are contributing towards the success of the Education 5.0
policy through the component of innovation and technological development. Our
sole aim is to see the industrialisation of Zimbabwe.
“The completion of this project is a clear demonstration of
the capacity we have internally as Zimbabwe to develop our own economy,” said
Eng Kamusoko.
“The completion of the medical oxygen plant was a big
milestone as this will go a long way in scaling up the fight against the
Covid-19 pandemic. Our health sector is in critical need of medical oxygen and
we have the production capacity to meet our national requirements as well as
export to neighbouring countries.”
Besides the medical supplies the company is also providing
the oxy-acetylene welding supplies, important in the fabrication industry and
the only way of welding away from a good electricity supply.
To ensure that the medical oxygen reaches the hospitals and
others who need it, the company had already imported 5 000 cylinders with a
further 5 000 set to arrive in the country soon. Eng Kamusoko hailed the
support the company received from the Government.
“This project was wholly funded by Government and it is
manned by Zimbabwean engineers and technicians. The completion of this project
also demonstrates Government’s commitment to develop its own technology and
industries.
The company is also working on other projects that include
the establishment of a coal-to-fertiliser plant and coal-to-fuel plant in
Lisulu, Hwange.
The company has designed a pilot plant capable of producing
5 000 litres of fuel a day, synthesised using an iron based-catalyst. It has
commissioned an air separation unit and is now constructing an acetylene plant.
Oxy-acetylene welding is common when electricity is not
available for arc-welding and is critical for a great deal of metalwork done in
areas not on the national grid, while being useful in other areas.
Zimbabwe has defied odds to mount a thorough and effective
response to the Covid-19 pandemic and has managed to minimise the effects of
the disease on its citizenry.
Zimbabwe had been importing most of the materials needed to
respond to the Covid-19 pandemic but by the end of last year, NatPharm reported
that more than 70 percent of the equipment needed to respond to the virus was
now being manufactured locally. Herald
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