By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
TATA Zambia Limited plans to recapitalise its Ndola assembly plant which will facilitate for the reopening of the motor vehicle business within the country.
TATA Zambia sales manager -vehicles sales Cornelius Mulenga said the company would soon recapitalise its Ndola operations to reduce the cost of vehicle imports.
Mr Mulenga said once fully operational, the assembling plant would be able to assemble vehicles within Zambia unlike the current situation
where its cars are imported from India.
Speaking at the just-ended Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show in Lusaka, Mr Mulenga said the development would also create more job opportunities for the Zambian people.
He commended Government for creating an enabling environment for motor industry saying that the recapitalisation of its plant was a clear demonstration of the company’s confidence in the Zambian economy.
“There are immediate plans of recapitalising our Ndola operations which is at the moment being used as a workshop repair and building of
bodies but the machineries are still in place so once we recapitalise the plant we will be building the vehicles here in Zambia,” Mr Mulenga
said.
He said the top management were seriously looking at the recapitalisation plan and would at an appropriate time announce the investments.
“We have seen a lot of players that have came onto the Zambian market because they have confidence in the economy and it gives us every justification that we need to move into that direction,” he said.
“We have managed to bring a number of vehicles on to the Zambian market so we are not just talking about TATA buses now we have vehicles that range from a half tone to 30 tonne therefore we have a range of vehicles that meet everybody requirements,” he said.
Mr Mulenga said the company annually import about 400 units of vehicles from India for the Zambian and Malawian markets.
Last year TATA imported 350 units compared to 400 units this year. Mr Mulenga said TATA had diversified into a number of business portfolio ranging from hospitality, health, beauty, property, consultancy and construction.
