Willdale to develop idle land to acquire new plant

Audrey Galawu

Willdale Limited Company is exploring the possibilities of unlocking value from undeveloped land held by the company to channel into the growth of the business.

The company hopes to tap into its land bank to install a plant with a rotary kiln and dryer in order to enable all year round production of bricks and enhance its production capacity.

The proposed manufacturing technology which will cost approximately US$3 million will result in the reduction of production waste, reduction in production cost, production being all year round rather than being seasonal, environmentally friendly production process, and international competitiveness.

The company considers it to be more value accrete to enter into partnerships for the development of undeveloped idle land that has been identified measuring circa 178.2 hectares.

To this end, Willdale management is planning to enter into a development agreement with Zusammen (Private) Limited in respect of four pieces of land measuring approximately 123.6 hectares at Haydon, Mt Hampden.

The principal objective of the Haydon Development Agreement is the partnering of the Company with Zusammen as the contractor to achieve the development of the 123.6 hectares of land into residential, commercial and industrial stands and the subsequent disposal of these developed stands.

In a similar development, the company is looking to enter into an agreement with Melrose Construction (Private) Limited trading as Integrated Construction Projects in respect of land to be subdivided into approximately 42 hectares at Kinvarra, Mt Hampden.

The principal objective of the aforesaid Kinvarra Development Agreement is the partnering of the Company with ICP as the contractor to achieve the development of the 42 hectares of land into commercial and industrial stands and the subsequent disposal of these developed stands.

Willdale chairman, Cleopas Makoni said the proceeds from the development will be channelled towards the acquisition of a new plant and make bricks higher quality and enable the company to compete effectively locally and in the region.

“The Company’s current manufacturing plant only allows for seasonal production of bricks, with full scale production happening between March and November while the production plant is shut down for up to three months from December to February each year because of the need to use natural sunlight for drying bricks before they are fired.

“This effectively means that there exists scope for the Company to optimise its production capacity by mitigating the downtime occasioned by the aforesaid seasonality.

“The Company has approximately 165.6 hectares of land in Mt Hampden, an area that is fast developing owing to the new Parliament Building and the new city located nearby. This has presented an opportunity to develop the land into residential, commercial and industrial stands. Furthermore, the Company has excess idle land in Christmas Gift, Gweru measuring approximately 12.6 hectares, bringing the total land available for development to about 178.2 hectares.

“Developing the land will result in the Company achieving a significantly higher value for the land compared to its current valuation of circa US$2.95 million,” he said.