Expansion of the coal terminal in Beira

The government of Mozambique has awarded the project to expand the coal terminal at the port of Beira as a concession to the New Beira Coal Terminal Company (NCTB), said Ambrósio Sitoe, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Communications.The spokesman said the expansion of the terminal is intended to increase transport capacity of the Sena railway from 6.5 million to 20 million tons per year. The railway links Moatize, in Tete province, to the port of Beira, in Sofala province.Sitoe, cited by Mozambican newspaper Notícias, recalled that the Mozambican government in 2014 approved an investment project in which the Vale group was the majority shareholder to increase the transport capacity of the Sena railway.

“The works are well advanced and should be completed in December, but the coal terminal at the port of Beira still has a coal handling capacity of about 6 million tons per year, and therefore we need to speed up the harmonisation of the two facilities,” he said.Sitoe, who is also spokesman for the 34th Coordinating Council of the MTC, taking place in the city of Matola, also said the government is committed to increase the handling capacity of the port of Beira.The spokesman said that the council discussed priority projects linked to the development of the port of Beira, such as the Machipanda line, whose feasibility study has been completed, as well as the recovery of pier 1, which will ensure containerised freight logistics.New Coal Terminal Beira (NCTB) is a partnership between Mozambican state port and rail manager CFM, with 30% and Indian group Essar Ports Ltd, with the remaining 70%.

Mozambique, says Sasol

South Africa is ten years behind its neighbour Mozambique in moving to a gas economy, and must build on Mozambique’s experience for its own development.This was the message on July 13 from the CEO of the South African Oil and Gas Alliance (SAOGA), Niall Kramer, at a breakfast meeting in Johannesburg.“I can’t think of a better example for creating a gas economy,” he said, after hearing a presentation on the gas activities of synfuels and chemicals giant Sasol. “What are the lessons that we can learn?”Sasol Vice President for Business Development, Power and Gas, Kribs Govender, had given the presentation to the SAOGA breakfast gathering, explaining how a portion of the gas which Sasol is producing from fields in Mozambique is sent by pipeline to its two major South African facilities at Secunda and Sasolburg, and also sold to third parties.He stressed that a key question which needs to be addressed for new gas developments within South Africa is where the gas will be used. The South African government is soon to unveil details of its plans for procuring a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), which would be sited at Richards Bay, Coega or Saldanha Bay.“Current thinking is that imported LNG will start the power process,” explained Govender. He also suggested that more effort is needed to develop the natural gas resources which lie off South Africa’s coast. “Exploration will help to allow a move from imported to indigenous gas,” he said. “We need to use imported gas as an anchor and build on that. Government must create an enabling environment.

”The expected immediate customer for the new FSRU is likely to be a power station, and the construction of this is expected to be an add-on option in the state tender.While industrial customers are likely to be serviced, Govender said it would not be feasible to develop a coastal chemicals plant as a customer for imported liquid petroleum gas (LPG). “The likelihood of developing a chemical facility based on imported gas are very slim,” he argued. “The numbers don’t stack up.”He said a 50-year vision is needed, developing gas supply through a number of hubs.Kramer agreed that new developments based on imported LPG could switch over to using new supplies of natural gas, if these can be brought on stream. “My hope is we do find indigenous gas,” he said.Earlier, Govender had explained that Mozambique is a heartland for Sasol, with gas from the Pande and Temane fields being used both in Mozambique and South Africa. Sasol is busy with a 13-well development project adjacent to its existing operations, and Govender said an immediate use for extra supplies from an expansion would be in a new 400-MW power station next to the existing processing facility, which could be commissioned around 2020-2022.Gas from Sasol is already supplied to a power station at Ressano Garcia, Mozambique, which is close to the border with South Africa, and which began operating in February 2015. “We don’t want to do everything in South Africa,” he stressed.

$1.3 bn in capital gains tax?

Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum oil have joined efforts to prepare the purchase of assets of US company Anadarko and Italy’s ENI in Mozambique, Bloomberg reported on 6 July. It estimated that the capital gains tax on the sale could be $1.3 bn, which would substantially ease the current fiscal crisis. The two have had joint projects for 15 years, but no final decision has been made yet. The two have the huge financial resources necessary to go ahead with the multi-billion dollar gas liquification trains that are part of the project.Exxon already has interests north and south of this area. It won three offshore exploration licenses in Mozambique in October for blocks to the south of the Anadarko and Eni finds. And it has a working interest in Statoil ASA’s Block 2 in Tanzania, north of the Rovuma Basin.The Financial Times (7, 8 July) said that ENI wants to cash in on some of its exploration successes and sell stakes in some major projects, including Mozambique. ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi said he hopes to sell some of the Mozambican gas field this year. There is a very good map of the gas field, showing how it straddles the border between areas 1 (Anadarko) and 4 (ENI) and the line of the proposed pipeline on http://clubofmozambique.com/news/eni-eyes-mozambique-stake-sale-by-the-end-of-2016/

+ Government confirms that diamonds have been found, particularly in Massangena, Gaza, in the Save River valley near the Zimbabwe border, which is downstream from the main Zimbabwe diamond mines. Mozambique intends to join the Kimberley Process and a team will arrive in September to evaluate Mozambican compliance.

River Púnguè hydroelectric

Work is due to resume on the project to construct a hydroelectric dam on the Pungue River at Nhancangare, in the district of Barue, in the central Mozambican province of Manica.

According to the daily newspaper “Noticias”, the announcement was made by Public Works Minister Carlos Bonete in the city of Chimoio on Monday. This was shortly after the governments of Mozambique and Zimbabwe had signed an agreement covering the management and sustainable use of the natural resources of the Pungue River Basin.

The Pungue Basin covers an area of 31,151 square kilometres, of which 4.7 per cent is in Zimbabwe. The river has a length of about 400 kilometres.The project to build the dam at Nhancangare came to a halt in 2012 due to a lack of funds. However, Bonete stated that there were ongoing contacts with the Dutch government with a view to raising finance.

The dam would have several purposes such as generating electricity, providing water for irrigation, and supplying water to the cities of Beira and Dondo in Sofala province. In addition, it would provide a tool for managing the flow of water along the river during the differing seasons. Thus, water would be captured for use during dry spells and the dam could limit the flow during periods when the river would otherwise be in spate.Bonete revealed that the Zimbabwean government is interested in constructing its own dam in the basin to manage the water supply.

He told reporters that the accord cements the friendship and cooperation between the two nations and will enable both countries to avoid in the future the extreme weather events such as floods and droughts which have previously had catastrophic effects.The minister declared that only through the proper and sustainable management of resources can water conflicts be avoided. He recalled that Mozambique has signed similar agreements with other countries with which it shares hydrological resources, namely with South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania.

Mozambique and Zimbabwe also share the Limpopo and Zambezi river basins.

Maria Bethânia to shoot documentary

In October, legendary Brazillian singer Maria Bethânia is arriving in Mozambique to shoot a documentary on Portuguese-language poets. Cine Group, the production company behind the venture, is currently in negotiations with Brazil’s private TV channel Arte l over distribution.According to ‘Veja’, filming will start as soon as Bethania arrives, and highlight will include a meeting with Mozambican writer Mia Couto and Angola’s José Eduardo Agualusa. Plans are afoot to put the trio together to discuss the work of several poets and recite poems.Arte 1 channel is currently flighting a four-episode series by Bethânia called ‘Poesia e Prosa’ (Poetry and Prose). The singer’s literary episode is providing a feasts for like-minded audiences, with commentators wryly suggesting that not since the salons of the nineteenth century have there been so many poetry recitals.

Vilanculos closed to international traffic

Tour operators in the northern part of Inhambane province have expressed their opposition to the Mozambican government’s decision to close Vilanculos aerodrome to international traffic, Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias reported.The tourism operators, the sector which is the main source of income for thousands of people in the districts of Vilanculos and Govuro and the five islands that make up the Bazaruto archipelago, said the closure of the airport to international traffic will end the activity in region.“Tourists, especially foreign ones, who use existing tourist facilities in the region, will no longer do so as they arrived in the country by air,” said one of the operators cited by the newspaper.Vilanculos aerodrome was opened to domestic public traffic in 1962 and international traffic in April 1997, when passenger traffic increased from 75,000 passengers to more than 200,000 per year.After benefiting from repair and modernisation works worth US$10 million, the airfield was considered a tool to boost the economy not only of Vilanculos itself, which has struggled to attain city status, but also of the entire northern region of Inhambane province.

Dhlakama confirms attacks

Renamo takes the authorship of the attacks of vehicles on the roads of the center, assigned to them by the government?

This is not to take. We are in a war. Renamo never left the base to go to someone's house to attack vehicles. Renamo tries to reduce the logistics of the enemy. I say enemy because they come attack us. political opponent is another thing. Who is shooting at us is an enemy. Renamo has some groups in ambushes to attack military cars. It does not matter if these fademos, FIR come in civilian vehicles, the Nagi, Maning Nice, Etrago or an open truck. We are firing at the enemy. What Frelimo is talking about is propaganda. Renamo does not attack civilian vehicles. Rather, Frelimo is leading civilian cars to serve as a shield. Attack military convoys.

After the agreement which is the role that will take. Will accept the opposition leader status with the right to state protocol and set up its office in Maputo?

 Not interested. With the Frelimo regime as it has no interest. Opposition leader status should not appear as if they were shut someone's mouth. It is also to be seen as a party and Frelimo wants to give an opposition leader Renamo status if they do not win the elections and not respect rules. There is no rule of law and credible institutions. With that heart Dhlakama accept such a travesty. It would be a scandal for my people. I do not accept. I could accept if we had a rule of law, institutions working and Frelimo in power through free and transparent elections. A charade to fool me and I shut up would be a betrayal of the people.

How to interpret the kidnapping of Manuel Lole?

I do not know where that Frelimo going with this. Frelimo created squads trained by North Koreans go to kidnap people. This had stopped after the counteroffensive we did. They took a beating and stopped. Now they use the police. The Lole is now a police station in Chimoio. It was the police who kidnapped him. They have done it with hundreds and hundreds of members of Renamo. Renamo know where he (Lole) is exactly. Is alive? At the moment (the interview was to 13h Tuesday 19) is alive, unless that have killed at night. We are to move the prosecution and warned that we know where it is. They are abducting and killing our members. They do every day. But I've never seen anything like it in Samora Machel regime in the Soviet Union nor China, Cuba. I do not know where that Frelimo going with this. In February, March and April killed only men. Now also kill women. Last week killed a woman of the Women's League Anifa name of Renamo in Caia. Out of the market and was dead day.

There are indications that the Lord does not enjoy good health. Also part of the Frelimo advertising?

 They have killed me several times. I am a human being. Sometimes I catch malaria a constipated tion in this cold time and then passes. That have a chronic illness, I can not walk, that's a lie. It's hearsay. Even when he was in Nampula, there were rumors that Dhlakama was dead. I never wanted the death of a leader of Frelimo, as a human being. Even after that assassination attempt in Manica, I never stayed with rancor Frelimo.

2019 is a door. You will reapply for the sixth time and will make room for a succession debate within the Renamo?

 The party is not mine. Not a regulated. It is not a traditional power. While the party Renamo continue to believe Dhlakama ability to drive and to campaign with charisma and all, with the people, I continuar.Mas if the party say that you already competed several times and was robbed'll rest, I'll rest because already made history. The fact that he fought and forced Frelimo to accept pluralism is work. It was due to my leadership, persistence, determination and courage. Afonso Dhlakama is already in history. A brilliant man, standing next to the poor and the people. Now run or not run it depends on Renamo party.

RESIDENT CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE CESSATION OF ATTACKS

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday stated que whilst the arrival of international mediators is a step in the process of dialogue with the opposition party Renamo, the people want the immediate cessation of attacks on persons and property.Speaking at a rally in Mopeia on the first day of his working visit to the central province of Zambezia, President Nyusi pointed October que his government had accepted Renamo's demand for international facilitators because of the lack of confidence between the two sides.President Nyusi que pledged the government will do everything it can to end the attacks the quickly the possible.The President appealed to people living in Mopeia and the rest of the province to denounce Those who ambush vehicles As They prevent development in the province and the country.He stressed that "in some parts of Morrumbala, Mocuba and Mopeia attacks have taken place. We need to be vigilant and denounce Those que hide, kill and destroy. "The President added, "we want peace because our lives are by Threatened the actions of armed men from Renamo".The resident location, Carlitos Mugauanha, Told the President "if we Were asked what we want now, we would Answered peace. We are unhappy because we are Unable to REALISE our aspirations due to the war. "President Nyusi Also spoke about the high cost of living and called for Increased productivity and production. He stated, "the economic situation is not good. Mopeia has water and fertile land to grow maize, sesame, sunflower, and beans. This district Also raises cattle and has fishing and fish farming. Those who produce food and have money for Their other needs ".During his time in the district, President Nyusi visited the fish market and an exhibition of agricultural produce. He Also Attended a special meeting of the provincial government and went to the agricultural cooperative place.

It is best to talk to these fellows

Manuel Tomé, is one of the Frelimo figures less media in recent years. When SAVANNAH says he accepted the interview exceptionally. The former Secretary General of Frelimo, in the reign of Joaquim Chissano, is cautious about the hottest topic of the Mozambican currency: the bad debts.

Back in 2015 when we only had knowledge of EMATUM, the former prime minister, Luísa Diogo, said he began to have nightmares about the country's debt levels. As received, this year, the news about the increased debt of PROINDICUS and MAM?

 Any debt is always a problem. I would say the best thing is not to have debt, but we know that often countries have to go into debt to be able to implement their development projects. And the indebtedness, the larger, more troubling are.

Our debt levels are worrying. If we are seeing today are more than 11 billion dollars of debt we have and these debts PROINDUCUS, the EMATUM and MAM are a part of the debt. worrying levels. Do you think the country would not have avoided arrive where he arrived? Or you think that it was inevitable contraction of these debts?

I explained that countries often have to go into debt to be able to respond to the development needs and then the medium and long term outweigh those debts with the results of production, etc. What we want is to clarify the debts of these three companies. We want to find ways they are resolved to the country to break free from a burden that is embarrassing. And I think the government is on the right track in dialogue with partners and international institutions in particular. The question that arises is not necessarily the application for loans, but it is as if these loans do and where is applied the money, including the ability to pay.

By the way, seem to him just or unjust sanctions, in public opinion against the administration of Armando Guebuza?

What can I say about it is that the Government is working with partners, with the IMF "Our debt levels are worrying" (International Monetary Fund) to clarify. The Attorney-General of the Republic is working to determine whether or not illegalities in the contracting process these debts. It is better to let the flow processes normally rather than being interfering because what I say will contribute to what extent to the RMP? You can only see a statement that disturb because they are human beings who work there, but no one will work on the basis of my and my statement statement may have effects positive or encouraging or negative to discourage the work you are doing and I think we should encourage the Government in the dialogue that is taking with partners and we should encourage the RMP to work as quickly as possible and all the rigor that the law requires.

In Frelimo, there are members who agree to conduct a forensic audit and the consequent accountability of debt authors, but there are also those who disagree. Which side is Manuel Tome?

I am on the side of those who want to know the full truth about these issues. I'm not too worried about the labels we give to processes, I am on the side of those who want, in fact, the truth be known.

What scope will Mozambique before the harsh economic situation that crosses before an international community that is always on top of the government, with fuzzies?

At the end of the day, this does not affect the government but affect greatly the population, so sometimes these international organizations are not restrained. Just see the difference between the first statements of the IMF and those made at the end of the technical mission that worked here. At the beginning made emotional statements without all the information, when they started to have it, the language has changed. This does not mean that it is harmless to the Mozambican side, but these organizations often do not look at countries as objective data holders on reality itself. Let me give an example: we had one of the most productive world's cashew industry but were World Bank measures that led to the destruction of the cashew industry in Mozambique and the losses were enormous. The number of workers went to unemployment and 20 years later you can not replace that workforce. This is just to say that we have to have a little more patience.

There may be comrades with practices contrary to Frelimo Comrades her as Sérgio Vieira and Jorge Rebelo said that Frelimo today is not the same with that of yesterday. Shares the view that Frelimo lost some principles and values ​​that guided its creation?

Frelimo today could not be the same time of the National Liberation Struggle. I'm quiet because Frelimo has gone through several stages and what is provided for in its statutes is that Frelimo is a party transformations and fits permanently to the real country, correcting directions and creating new strategies. The principles and values ​​are there, what can happen is that there are comrades who have practices contrary to the statutes. There are comrades who say that in Frelimo, there are people with cravings to get richer, forgetting the people ... It is best to speak with these comrades to explain very well what that means.

A year after the start of governance Filipe Nyusi, as it looks for a mandate that at least marks a generational transition?

Mark, yes, an intergenerational transition and this is good for the country. This governance Nyusi president is very challenging because it inherits an unstable country, inherits a country with droughts and floods in the south in the north. Inherits a country with troubling debts, so we should all give our contribution to these challenges all that the president has in his hands are successfully addressed, because at the end of the day, we will all benefit.(SAVANA)

LAST HOUR

The group of international mediators just ask, there are times, delegations of Philip Nyusi and Afonso Dhlakama, the interruption of the talks to a date to be announced, given the impasse that takes place in the discussion of the first item on the agenda: the requirement of Renamo to govern the six provinces who claims to have won the general and provincial elections in 2014.

The coordinator of the team of international mediators Mario Raffaelli said, there are times, the journalists, who face the many concerns raised by the parties his team asked for time to see if prepares proposals that can help to achieve solutions."As you know, yesterday (Friday, delegations called for a suspension of the meeting to reflect on several points of a point of discussion. And today, the delegations presented their proposals for discussion between the two parties, but is now a request from our side for the suspension, taking into account the many things that were presented "said Mario Raffael.

Mario Raffael said he did not know when delegations should return to sessions.

The Government insists that there is no constitutional framework to accommodate the proposal Renamo demands that governance in the six provinces. Afonso Dhlakama has insisted that this is the starting point for any agreement with Frelimo.For there is no date set for the next session.

CENTRAL BANK DECREES HUGE RISE IN KEY INTEREST RATE

The Bank of Mozambique on Thursday announced a dramatic hike in interest rates, as it struggles to bring inflation and the exchange rate back under control.A statement issued by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee announced that the Standing Lending Facility (the interest rate paid by the commercial banks to the central bank for money borrowed on the Interbank Money Market) will rise immediately by 300 base points, from 14.25 per cent to 17.25 per cent.This is the seventh increase in the Bank’s main reference rate since October 2015. This rate had been falling gradually since late 2012. It reached 7.5 per cent in November 2014, and remained at that level for a year, but the rate rises in October, November and December 2015 and in February, April and June 2016 bought the rate to 14.25 per cent. Now this latest rise has pushed it to 17.25 per cent, an increase that will certainly be imitated by the commercial banks, making the cost of borrowing prohibitively high for small businesses.The Standing Deposit Facility (the rate paid by the central bank to the commercial banks on money they deposit with it) also rose by 300 base points from 7.25 per cent to 10.25 per cent.The Compulsory Reserves Coefficient - the amount of money that the commercial banks must deposit with the Bank of Mozambique – remains divided into two. For reserves in local currency, the central bank increased the coefficient by 250 base points. It thus rises from 10.5 per cent to 13 per cent.For reserves in foreign currency, which must be deposited in US dollars, the coefficient remains 15 per cent.

Explaining these drastic changes, the Monetary Policy Committee says it thought it necessary “to strengthen the anti-cyclical posture of monetary policy” because of “the atypical behaviour of the main macro-economic indicators”.Those indicators “point to a slowdown in GDP growth and continued inflationary and exchange rate pressures, resulting from the adverse effects of the international conjuncture, from natural shocks (drought and floods), from the suspension of foreign aid, and from a reduced availability of foreign currency due to the persistent fall in exports”.All this coincided with continued military tension in parts of the country, increased “responsibilities of the country to the outside world”, and successive downgrades of Mozambique by international rating agencies.Those “increased responsibilities” are the need to repay government-guaranteed loans, including those to the companies Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management (MAM) , which, although contracted in 2013-2014, had not been disclosed by the previous government, led by President Armando Guebuza. Among those taken by surprise at the scale of the undisclosed lending was the Bank of Mozambique itself – indeed, in April the governor of the bank, Ernesto Gove, said he had never heard of Proindicus, which had taken out a loan of 622 million US dollars.The undisclosed loans precipitated a crisis between Mozambique and several of its main international partners, who suspended all direct support to the Mozambican state budget.

 The imbalances the economy faces, the Monetary Policy Committee added, “justify pursuing the fiscal and monetary measures now under way, seeking to re-establish macro-economic stability and protect the solidity of the financial sector”.Inflation in June, according to figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), was 0.8 per cent. This pushed inflation over the past year (July 2015 to June 2016) to 19.7 per cent.The Monetary Policy Committee blamed this high inflation on the impact of natural disasters on food production, the constraints on transport caused by “military tension in the centre of the country”, and the depreciation of the Mozambican currency, the metical, particular against the South African rand, thus increasing the prices of all goods imported from South Africa.The metical continued to lose value in June. At the end of the month, the US dollar was quoted at 63.5 meticais on the Inter-Bank Exchange Market. This was a monthly devaluation of the metical of 9.1 per cent. Over the entire previous year, the metical depreciated by 62.7 per cent against the dollar. In the commercial banks, the average exchange rate quoted on 30 June was 63.91 meticais to the dollar, while in the foreign exchange bureaus it was 65.2 meticais to the dollar.As for the South African currency, there were 4.32 meticais to the rand at the end of the month. This was an accumulated depreciation of the metical against the rand over the past six months of 50 per cent.Provisional figures indicate that in June the country’s net foreign reserves increased by 221 million dollars to 1.920 billion dollars. This was largely because of the compulsory deposit in the central bank of large sums in US dollars by the commercial banks under the new regime of compulsory reserves that took effect in June. Prior to June, the compulsory reserves had only been in meticais.