Zimbabwe Plans To Assemble 200 Buses This Year With Chinese Kits
Zimbabwe plans to assemble 200 more buses this year with kits from China. This follows the successful assembly of 40 buses in two trial phases, with some local component manufacture, including seats and roof racks, in the new phase.
Zimbabwe can now export assembled buses, with the government-owned Deven Engineering in partnership with Amalgamated Bus Industries capable of assembling up to 1 200 buses annually, The Herald reported.
Amalgamated Bus Industries director Dr Shadreck Tiripano expressed readiness to assemble more buses during a tour of Deven Engineering by the Permanent Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution in Harare Metropolitan Province, Mr Tafadzwa Muguti. The Herald quotes him as saying:
We are helping the Government in NDS1 whereby we import knock-down kits from China and assemble them here in Zimbabwe. Our medium to long term plan is to bring in more kits, especially this year where we have got a facility of about 200 kits which means 200 buses which we want to import into Zimbabwe.
Deven Engineering, owned by the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ), plans to increase production capacity to assemble over 200 buses per year using local engineers.
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The company has the capacity to manufacture 10-12 brand new buses daily, with the ability to produce 500 to 1 200 buses per year depending on customer orders.
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The company plans to manufacture any bus brand for any terrain in Zimbabwe’s urban and rural segments using local expertise and workers. The next phase of assembly will involve localizing componentry, including seats, seat covers, brackets, and goods carriers.
Deven Engineering plans to collaborate with the Harare Institute of Technology and the University of Zimbabwe to start reverse engineering and local component manufacturing for Willowvale Motor Industries. The company also aims to revive old bus models and provide complete solutions for bus owners and operators.
Mr Muguti visited Deven Engineering to appreciate its operations and provide support to the company. He said the government aims to improve the efficiency and development of the transport service network by progressively assembling buses locally, lowering production costs, and promoting import substitution.
He said Deven has created eight jobs during Phase One, with 20 buses assembled and another batch of 20 on the way. He also mentioned that most trailers that are still functional today were wholly manufactured in Zimbabwe from 1990 to around 1999, and Deven is aiming to follow this trend with its trailers.
