NEWs!!!

LOAN FROM KOREA FOR QUELIMANE HOSPITAL

The South Korean government is to make available to the Mozambican authorities an additional loan of 25 million US dollars for the construction of Quelimane Central Hospital, in the capital of Zambezia province.To this end, notes on the project were initialed in Maputo on Wednesday by Deputy Foreign Minister Eduardo Koloa, and by the South Korean ambassador, Hee-yoon Kang.The total estimated cost of building the hospital is 56 million dollars, co-financed by the Mozambican and South Korean governments.Construction of the hospital, which will contain 600 beds, began in 2013. It is being built by a consortium of the Korean companies Sammi Construction. Co ltd and Yul trading corporation, and should be completed within 24 months (i.e. by the end of April 2015). The hospital will provide services that can be found nowhere else in Zambezia, and so, as from 2015, patients who previously had to be sent to the central hospitals in Maputo, Beira or Nampula, can be treated in the new hospital.Speaking at the signing ceremony, Koloma said the agreement reflects the “excellent cooperation” between Mozambique and South Korea.“The Republic of Korea has supported Mozambique in various sectors that are contributing to the development of the country”, he said. “I would like to express our satisfaction at the growing positive evolution of our cooperation with Korea at all levels”.

 MAPUTO PORT HITS NEW RECORD

 Maputo port expects to handle about 19 million tonnes of cargo this year, which is a new record, according to the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) which holds the lease on operating the port.The figure is an increase of around ten per cent on the figure for 2014, when the port handled 17.3 million tonnes. Speaking in Maputo on Wednesday, when presenting the company’s 2014 report, MPDC Executive Director Osorio Lucas said that the increase in cargo handled this year was due to investment in port improvements and expansion, sub-leases and dredging, the cost of which was estimated at 35 million dollars.Lucas added that with capacity now installed in the port for handling ferro-chrome, the amount of cargo could rise still further. Among the main goods handled by Maputo Port are coal, chrome, iron ore, vehicles, and grain. Lucas said that in recent years the volume of minerals handled (mostly from South Africa) has risen considerably when compared with containerized cargo. Indeed, of the 19 million tonnes handled this year, 13 million are minerals.But Lucas declined to reveal the MPDC financial results, on the grounds that an internal audit is still under way.“We cannot give a figure for our total profits this year, otherwise we would be breaking the rules, but in due time we shall announce the figures”, Lucas promised. But he added that he expected net gains to rise “a little” when compared with the figure for 2013 of 20 million dollars in profit. Lucas said that 2014 was dedicated to expanding and renovating the port, citing as examples the conclusion of the vehicle terminal, the paving of areas beside the warehouses, and the start to rehabilitating the paving of the container terminal. Maintenance dredging is currently underway at the quays, to remove about 27,000 cubic metres of sediment and restore the water depth at the quays to its original levels. The dredging should be concluded by the end of this month.Lucas pointed out that when the government handed the port over to private management in 2001, it was only handling about four million tonnes of cargo a year.He said that the great challenge facing the port now is environmental, “due to the type of cargo it is handling. We are updating the environmental plan and introducing measures to mitigate the impact of dust”.“We think the development of the port should not be at the expense of the environment”, said Lucas.

GOVERNMENT APPROVES NEW POWER STATIONS

The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved the terms and conditions for the construction of two hydroelectric power stations at Chemba, on the south bank of the Zambezi river, in the central province of Sofala.The approval by the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) paves the way for a public private partnership to build the two plants (Chemba I and Chemba II) on the Zambezi.Chemba I will produce 600 megawatts of electricity and Chemba II 400 megawatts. It is estimated that construction will cost 2.55 billion US dollars.Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Henrique Banze explained that the concession will go to the publicly owned electricity company, EDM, and the private company Hidroeléctrica de Tambara.Banze added that the government believes that the two projects will attract more investment through increasing the energy supply.He pointed out that the project will improve the living conditions of people living in the region, especially through improved water supply and irrigation.Banze explained that the Council of Ministers last year authorised the Minister of Energy, Salvador Namburete, to negotiate the terms and conditions for implementation of the project. These terms have now been approved by the Cabinet.

CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL REJECTS RENAMO QUELIMANE APPEAL

The Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, has rejected a second electoral appeal from the country’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo.Renamo was appealing against a decision of the Quelimane City Court which threw out Renamo’s call for missing data from 39 of the city’s polling stations to be included in the results of the 15 October general elections.Renamo had wanted the court to oblige the electoral bodies to include the missing data. The polling stations concerned, it said, covered about 15,000 voters.The Renamo protest was against the intermediate count of the city’s results, announced by the Quelimane City Elections Commission on 20 October. The court ruled against Renamo, and the Constitutional Council upheld the court ruling, because, as in previous election appeals, Renamo had not obeyed the principle of “prior impugnation” – that is, when a party believes an abuse has occurred, it must present its protest there and then. Renamo had not protested during the intermediate count, and so its later appeal, first to the City Elections Commission and then to the City Court, could have no legal effects.The Council pointed out that the electoral law allows political party election agents to attend the intermediate count, and if they believe that any irregularities are taking place they may protest at once, and the City Elections Commission must take an immediate decision. If the decision is not to the liking of the party, it may then appeal to the Provincial Elections Commission.At the end of the count, minutes and results sheets are immediately issued, which must include any claims and protests made by the parties. But the minutes from the Quelimane intermediate count contained no such claim or protest from Renamo.Renamo only made its protest to the City Commission the following day, which guaranteed that it could not be considered.Renamo also protested against alleged irregularities at one of the Quelimane polling stations. This time it did lodge its protest, on time, on polling day itself, with the polling station staff, who rejected it.Renamo then had the right to appeal to the City Court within 48 hours of publication of the polling station count. Assuming that the results sheets were posted on the station walls in the early morning of 16 October, the appeal should have reached the court by 18 October. In fact, Renamo did not submit its appeal to the court until 21 October, thus ensuring that it would be thrown out for missing the deadline.The Council declared that the Quelimane court had taken the right decision and so rejected the Renamo appeal. The seven judges of the Council were unanimous in this decision, including Manuel Franque, the judge appointed by the Renamo parliamentary group.The Renamo claim that data from 39 of the 180 Quelimane polling stations was missing is different from earlier Renamo claims which spoke of 39 missing results sheets. Since each station had three results sheets (one for each election – presidential, parliamentary and provincial), the number of stations completely missing from the count could not be 39.