The first phase of the repair and modernisation of the deep-water port of Nacala, in Nampula province, in Mozambique, is close to being concluded, the Macauhub news agency has reported. This phase will result in the port having new container and fuel terminals, as well as a new harbour master control station (directing the entrance and exit of ships). Yet to be completed are the paving for the container terminal, the construction of a new railway terminus and repairs to the northern jetty.
Once completed, this renovation programme will increase the port’s cargo capacity from the current 2-million tons/year (Mt/y) to 5.5 Mt/y in 2020. This is expected to stimulate economic activity along the Nacala corridor and in Mozambique’s land-locked neighbours of Malawi and Zambia. (The Nacala railway line links with Malawi’s railway company – Central East African Railways – which also has a link to the Zambian town of Chipata.)
The refurbishment of the Nacala harbour is being carried out by specialist Japanese company Penta-Ocean Construction and is being financed by the Japanese government. In a financial agreement signed between Mozambique and Japan in March 2013, amounting to $84-million, the cost of the project was estimated at $300-million. In May 2014, the then Japanese ambassador to Maputo announced that his country was granting Mozambique $32-million and lending the country another $200-million, both to finance the Nacala port repair and modernisation programme.
Separately, the US Agency for International Development has donated $1.9-million to Mozambique to fund a programme intended to improve the business environment in the country. The money will be released over the next four years and is intended to fund public– private dialogues, the development of policies and strategies, technical support for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, professional training for the Competition Regulatory Authority and technical support for the execution of contracts, programme management and auditing.
In more detail, according to a press release by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, $328 000 will be used to fund activities intended to reduce the time taken to resolve business disputes in the courts in the city and the province of Maputo, as well as to provide training in insolvency and commercial law. Training for personnel of the Competition Regulatory Authority will be funded to the tune of $410 000. Technical support for the Ministry of Trade and Industry will receive funding of $780 000. Other activities that will be financed will be international exchanges, studies and seminars and the implementation and publicising of political reforms.
Meanwhile, Mozambique’s Investment Promotion Centre has announced that some two dozen Italian businesspeople will visit the country in the near future. They are interested in developing partnerships with small and medium sized Mozambique enterprises. This is a result of the African country’s participation in Expo 2015, in Milan, which opened on May 1 (and will close on October 31). The Italian delegation will include representatives of the agricultural, agricultural machinery, construction materials, furniture and renewable energy sectors. According to Mozambique’s National Statistical Institute, agriculture accounts for 25% of the country’s gross domestic product and employs 80% of economically active Mozambicans.