Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE COLD Storage Company (CSC)-Boustead Beef Zimbabwe has suspended rehabilitation works, putting on hold a programme that was expected to see the country’s meat processor and marketer resuming operations before the end of the year.

CSC-Boustead Beef consultant, Mr Reginald Shoko told Business Chronicle that their revitalisation programme has been put on hold due to the adverse economic impact of Covid-19.

He said the company was unable to import equipment for retooling hence the decision to put the programme on hold.

“The revitalisation programme is on hold for now because of Covid-19. As CSC-Boustead Beef Zimbabwe we import most of our equipment from China but due to the pandemic it is not possible to import now,” he said.

Mr Shoko said work on the rehabilitation project has been suspended and will only resume when the company is able to import the required equipment.

The rehabilitation programme included the installation of modern technology, including a 3MW solar plant at the company’s Bulawayo headquarters.

The company has not been operating for about 20 years due to operational constraints.

CSC-Boustead Beef Zimbabwe entered into a strategic partnership with Econet’s subsidiary, Distributed Power Africa (DPA), which will see most of its operations being solar powered.

CSC-Bousted beef is a US$400 million joint venture between CSC and a United Kingdom investor, Boustead Beef (Pvt) Ltd.

The CSC at its peak used to handle up to 150 000 tonnes of beef and associated by-products annually and exported to the European Union, where it had an annual quota of 9 100 tonnes of beef. The firm used to earn the country about US$45 million per year. — @okazunga.