Sofid finances investment by Portuguese

The Society for Development Finance (Sofid) has financed with around €1.5 million the €10 million investments that the Portuguese company Construções Gabriel Couto plans to carry out in Mozambique, the financial institution said on Wednesday. The operation has as its starting point the construction of the aerodrome that will serve the country’s natural gas megaprojects in the north, Sofid said in a statement, adding that the construction company has other projects in the pipeline. Sofid believes that the construction of the new airfield in the district of Palma, in the province of Cabo Delgado, will bring social and environmental benefits.

“It is estimated that the construction company will employ more than 400 workers from the region for its work,” they said, in addition to promoting social actions to improve the living conditions of the communities. On the other hand, the levels of management and environmental respect imposed by the natural gas consortia should ensure that Sofid’s financing is being used for private investment with an impact on the Sustainable Development Goals – goals outlined by the United Nations.

Sofid is a Portuguese development financial institution mainly owned by the state.

The province of Cabo Delgado is the stage for private investments of around $50 billion (€45.1 billion), one of the largest currently underway in Africa, whose goal is the exploitation of natural gas reserves from 2022 and which should catapult the economic growth of Mozambique. The hope of prosperity in one of the poorest countries in the world lives with a violent threat. Armed attacks linked to Muslim communities that have been radicalised have caused 300 deaths in the region in the last two years, with an estimated 60,000 people being affected, with looting and destruction of property or forced to abandon the land and seek refuge far from their homes.