ED Commissions first ever ICT factory plant in ZIM

President Mnangagwa has commissioned the first ever ICT plant in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Information Technology Company(ZITCO).

This will improve the supply of ICT devices to public sector workers and lower the cost of devices through substituting local labour.

ZITCO is involved in the assembling of desktops, laptops, tablets, prepaid electricity meters, smart water meters and other technological gadgets.The Technology company is a subsidiary of TelOne and joint venture between a Chinese company Inspur and a Government-owned entity Flushcord Enterprises.

Speaking during the commissioning Mnangagwa said ,“The factory has been completed and is now churning out state of the art laptops, desktops and other ICT devices.These products will enable the modernisation and automation of systems to propel.”

” The development will modernise the country , the facility will provide a platform for innovations and import substitution.”

“I urge government ministries to migrate from manual ICT systems , and private sectors to harness intellectual capacity in the country.”

Mnangagwa further challenged the ICT sector to devise ways of making Zimbabwe a technological hub adding that institutions of higher learning should also be innovative to ensure achievement of the fourth industrial revolution.

In a press statement Telecommunications company Telone said , “The ZITCO assembly plant has already started operating with the first run of 2500 desktop computers and laptops having already been completed.”

” It is expected that after the commissioning ZITCO will now be moving towards full production where a production capacity of at least 50,000 and up to 150,000 ICT units can be achieved annually.”

The ZITCO commissioning comes at a time TelOne is resuscitating its Msasa factory where the plant is housed.

Msasa factory has been a key unit of TelOne with its ability to manufacture telecommunications network support equipment using technology. I