CHINA TO FUND VEHICLE ASSEMBLY PLANT

The Mozambican government and the Chinese company Tong Jian Investment Ltd signed an agreement in Maputo on Friday to set up a vehicle assembly plant in Maputo province.The factory will cost 200 million US dollars, and the first vehicle is expected to roll off the assembly line by July 2011.Initially the assembly plant will be set up in Machava, in the industrial city of Matola. But this is a provisional site, and it will eventually move to Maluana, 76 kilometres north of Maputo city, where a science and technology park is being erected. While vehicles are being assembled at the provisional site, the new factory will be under construction in Maluana.The agreement was signed by the Director-General of the Mozambican government’s Office for Special Economic Zones (GAZEDA), Danilo Nada, and by the Executive Director of Tong Jian, Hong Cao.According to Nala, the project will create 3,000 jobs. Initially the plant will produce 10,000 vehicles a year, but the figure will later rise to between 30,000 and 50,000. Thirty per cent of the vehicles produced will be sold on the Mozambican market, and the rest will be exported.