PLANNING MINISTER AT ADB MEETING

The Mozambican government’s strategy for the use of the funds made available by the African Development Bank (ADB) prioritises agriculture and infrastructures, according to the Minister of Planning and Development. Aiuba Cuereneia.Speaking  in Lisbon, where he was attending the ADB General Assembly, Cuereneia said that some of the 140 million euros (about 201 million US dollars) that the Bank plans to invest in Mozambique over the next three years takes the form of direct budget support.A further part of the ADB support will go to projects under way, mainly in the road sector. This includes the road between the northern cities of Nampula and Lichinga, and the road from Mueda to Negamano in Cabo Delgado province, also in the north“Right now, we are discussing further financing to rehabilitate the Massingir Dam”, said Cuereneia. “The work requires an additional 20 million dollars”. The dam is on the Elephants River, a major tributary of the Limpopo, in the southern province of Gaza. It has not functioned properly because of severe seepage problems.The Lisbon ADB meeting, held under the theme “Towards an Agenda of Inclusive Growth”, was dominated by the overthrow of dictatorial regimes in North Africa, and the urgency for African leaders to connect economic growth with social gains. In his speech to the meeting, Cuereneia recognised that the ADB has played an important role in the economic and social development of Mozambique, where “we are continuing with investments in infrastructures and services to increase economic activity, particularly in the rural areas, where programmes of rural electrification, water supply and sanitation, and the expansion of micro-finance institutions stand out”.For Cuereneia, the diversification of the economy and the promotion of small and medium industries, in the countryside and the towns, “is our strategy for the promotion of inclusive growth”.He also stressed the government’s recently approved Poverty Reduction Action Plan (PARP) for 2011-2014, in which the priorities are centred on increasing agricultural production and productivity, job creation and the development of human capital. “Our approach to increasing production rests on improving access to inputs, making available adequate technologies and improved seeds, increasing the capacity to control pests and diseases, and making the best use of water for irrigation”, he said.