Cabo Delgado governor ‘not in favour’ of megaprojects’ occasional contracting of Mozambican companies

The governor of the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado said on Monday that the time had come to put an end to the “occasional contracting” of national companies to provide services to megaprojects, advocating instead a lasting model that would allow them to gain more experience.

“We are not in favour of occasional contracting for services, but rather of a relationship that develops into lasting commercial relations, which could allow local companies to potentially move into other markets,” Cabo Delgado governor Valige Tauabo said.

The official was speaking at the Conference on Value Addition Based on Available Mineral and Energy Resources (CAVAME-d), organised by the government in the city of Nacala, in Nampula province, in the north of the country.

“Young people and women, and the population as a whole, should not be spectators of major investments, but rather an active part of them (…). Our coordination with other national institutions, at various levels, must take place with due regard for compliance with regulations in order to reduce the fragmentation of efforts, improve the flow of information and ensure that industrial initiatives respond to the development priorities of the province of Cabo Delgado and the country in general,” he said.

The governor wants to see the availability of a skilled local workforce strengthened through technical and vocational training for megaprojects, including the certification of skills following closer links between educational institutions and companies.

“Access to financing remains a decisive condition for the creation and expansion of national companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to join the supply chains of major projects,” the governor said.

“As long as the exploitation of mineral and energy resources does not translate into decent employment, improved housing, skills development for our young people, the creation of new companies, increased production and productivity, and the strengthening of the provincial economic base, we remain concerned, because this exploitation adds nothing to us,” he added.

Mozambique has three approved development megaprojects to exploit the liquefied natural gas reserves of the Rovuma Basin, ranked among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.

These include the Coral Sul project, operated by Italy’s Eni, the only one in operation since 2022, which, from 2028, will make it possible to double production to seven million tonnes per year (mtpa) of LNG, with a third unit under study.

After four years of suspension due to terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, the Mozambique LNG project (Area 1), operated by TotalEnergies, officially resumed in January.

At the CAVAME-d conference on Monday, the governor of Gaza said that the province was studying ways to establish an industrial park near the local airport in order to make better use of its mining sector, indicating that this was one of the ways to promote the growth of local industry.

“In terms of logistics, we have the international airport located in Chongoene (…). We have an understanding as a province that we will also create Gaza Parks, establish a special economic zone and, around the airport and the heavy industrial areas, create other value chains,” said Gaza governor Alfeu Cuna.

The province of Gaza has an ongoing private project to build a solar power plant valued at US$126 million (€112 million), which, it says, will help supply energy to private companies exploiting heavy mineral sands in the district of Chibuto.

Source: Lusa