Mnangagwa commissions US$70m Delta plants

**President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume, left.**

Philemon Jambaya

Delta Beverages invested US$70 million in three state-of-the-art plants in Harare, which were officially commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday.

Mnangagwa was in the company of Minister of Industry and Commerce Sekai Nzenza and Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume, among other dignitaries.

The three plants are the pet line manufacturing at Coke Corner in Graniteside, Chibuku Super factory on Plymouth Road in Southerton and a high-tech beer packaging plant on Manchester Road.

Mnangagwa commended the relationship between farmers and Delta Beverages which has grown in recent years.

“The Second Republic values Delta’s relationship with farmers in their supply chain, who provide stock feeds for their production and processes.

“I urge the company to continue integrating marginalised communities in your value chain through your out-grower programme.

“It is my hope that more companies in our productive sector will adopt the contracting model to complement the various government programmes currently in place,” he said.

Delta Corporation Chief Executive Officer, Mike Valela said they mooted these projects during the Covid-19-induced lockdown.

“We planned to install these new plants at the peak of Covid-19-induced lockdown, and we only began the implementing process 24 months ago.

“This is an ongoing investment and we are projecting opportunities in our value chain to increase productivity by 30%,” he said.

The company also asked President Mnangagwa to pick two schools where Delta Corporation will build one classroom block and drill a borehole.