GORONGOSA NATIONAL PARK : LAM JOINS PARK'S BUSINESS CLUB

The company Mozambique Airlines joined the group of institutions and entities of the business club of Gorongosa National.

To the effect was signed today in Maputo a memorandum between the two institutions through which
LAM shall pay an annual fee to
finance the biodiversity research laboratory activities.

Under the agreements of understanding between the
two institutions LAM company
will invest for the operation of
the research laboratory of the
biodiversity of the park.

Under the agreement,LAM will consider ways of providing
improved conditions or specific
travel packages for tourists.

Gorongosa National Park is
developing since last year a
restoration project in the park which is open space for the
contribution of all stakeholders
in the national park growth.

At least twenty-one companies or
institutions have joined the
business club of Gorongosa National Park.

Gorongosa National Park is becoming one of the largest national parks in Africa.Gorongosa features a remarkable variety of
ecosystems.

Anadarko will start supplying gas for domestic use

THE GOVERNMENT and Anadarko reached an agreement for the supply of natural gas for domestic use,from its LNG project in the country.

This was announced yesterday in Houston,USA, by the North American oil company. Under the MoU, the Off shore Area 1 will provide, by train, (100 MMcf / d), initial volumes of approximately 50 million cubic feet of natural gas per day for domestic use in Moza.

Natural gas will be supplied at fair prices for all parties to support the local development of natural gas and utilities are prepared to sell up to 300 MMcf / d of additional volumes in the domestic market in the coming years,so mature projects and commercial terms are agreed.
"The signing of this memorandum is an important step," said executive vice president of Anadarko,Mitch Ingram.

"We look forward to continue working with the Government of Mozambique to finalize the contractual-legal framework,which will enable us to supply natural gas for domestic projects and Liquified Natural Gas shipments for export,both of which will bring benefits to Mozambique, with the exploration of this reliable source of cleaner energy and significant revenue generation''.

This agreement is considered a clear sign of the effort and commitment of the Mozambican government in making this resource (natural gas) serve Mozambicans and, above all, contribute to boost the domestic industry and other sectors.

It is believed that with this announcement the shock situation that has been undermining our economy will take favorable outlines the Government and may even influence the rating agencies and normalize the exchange rate fluctuation.

The Anardak announcement was also welcomed by some North American press and confirms that Mozambique remains a preferred destination for foreign direct investment.

On the other hand, Anadarko and Italy's Eni East Africa also signed yesterday an agreement for joint development of liquefied natural gas to be produced in the Rovuma basin in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.



According to a press realease, Anadarko and ENI signed a "Unit Agreement and Unit Operation (UUOA- acronym in English), for the development of massive natural gas resources that lie in the two blocks.

"We appreciate the cooperation of the Government of Mozambique,Eni and our co-venturers in the Offshore Area 1, for their collaborative efforts to implement this UUOA, which is fair, equitable and consistent with industry best practices, "said Mitch Ingram.

Cahora Bassa not cause of cheap South African power

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Pedro Couto, on 26 November denied a claim by Renamo that electricity is cheaper in South Africa than in Mozambique because power from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi is sold far too cheaply to South Africa.

Speaking in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, during a question and answer session between
the deputies and the government, Couto said that the total amount of power generated in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region was 55,000 megawatts.

Of this, 43,000 megawatts(almost 80 per cent) was generated inside South Africa.

South Africa’s imports of electricity from Mozambique(mostly from Cahora Bassa) account for less than three per cent of the total power consumed in South Africa.

It was thus impossible,Couto said, for the price charged for Cahora Bassa power to have a determinant impact on the final price paid by South African electricity consumers.

The reason why electricity is cheaper in South Africa than in Mozambique,he argued,is because South Africa is an industrial country which uses large amounts of power at high and medium voltage.

In Mozambique,on the other hand,98 per cent of consumers are domestic, using power at low voltage.Couto said it is more expensive to produce low voltage than high voltage power,because
more transformation isrequired which increases the cost.

That explained the price difference between South Africa and Mozambique, and it had nothing to do with Cahora Bassa.

Asked about the unreliability of
power supply in central Mozambique,Couto said that
cities such as Beira and Chimoio receive their electricity from the Chicamba and Mavuzi dams on the Revue River.

These power stations were built under Portuguese colonial rule, in the early 1950s, and their efficiency has declined to less than 50 per cent of installed capacity.

Major rehabilitation work began on the two Revue dams in 2014, and Couto said that when the work is finished next year they will operate at full capacity of 90 megawatts.

Renamo had also complained
that Zumbo, in Tete province, is
not supplied from the Mozambican national grid at all, but from Zambia.

Couto said that was perfectly true, and other frontier regions also obtained their power from neighbouring countries –Milange, in Zambezia province,from Malawi, and Espungabera,in Manica, from Zimbabwe – while the Kosi Bay area in the South African province of
Kwazulu-Natal drew its power from Mozambique. 

Such arrangements were common throughout the world,he said, because it can often be cheaper and more rational to ibtain electricity from a neighbouring country, rather than from a more distant national power source.

 “Mozambique is part of the Southern African region”,stressed Couto.

“We are not closed in on ourselves. Youcan’t run energy distribution
on a basis of total isolation”.

Frelimo deputies found itstrange that Renamo was complaining about electricity at a time when more of
Mozambique is electrified than ever before.

Francisco Mucanheia pointed out that in 2007, when the Mozambican state took a majority holding in Cahora Bassa,only 64 districts had electricity.

That figure has now risen to 146 – only six district capitals do not yet have electricity from the grid, and all are among the new districts set up last year by dividing existing districts into smaller units.

SOURCE AIM

Prime minister urges Renamo to disarm

Prime Minister urges Renamo to disarm

Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on 26 November urged members of the illegal militia operated by of the largest opposition party Renamo to surrender their guns and return to Mozambican society.

Speaking in the Assembly of the Republic at the end of a question and answer session between the deputies and the government, Rosario praised the “pragmatism” shown by President Nyusi when he ordered the defence and security forces to show restraint in disarming Renamo,and to act “in a more moderate manner, so as to give space to dialogue, seeking to attain effective peace”.

The Prime Minister urged all political and social forces to respond positively to this signal from the President, and “to hand over voluntarily guns which are in illegitimate hands”.

The construction of peace and stability, the Prime Minister declared, is “the fundamental condition for attracting investment”and for sustainable development.


SOURCE:AIM

Mozambique finally landmine free

Mozambique confirms it is
land mine free Mozambique has formally confirmed that it is free of land mines.

The declaration was made at a meeting in Geneva of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, commonly known as the Ottawa Convention.

The announcement was made by Mozambique’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Pedro Comissario, who stressed that “the greatest indicator of our success is not the number of square metres cleared or the number of land mines
destroyed,but the incalculable
improvement to the development of Mozambique and the removal of fear from our communities”. He added, “a great measure of success is that 2015 will mark the first year in decades without any new landmine casualties”.

The director of the National Demining Institute (IND),Alberto Augusto, lamented that“land mines have claimed tens of thousands of victims in our territory,and leave behind a large number of land mine
survivors who require assistance, care and rehabilitation, as well as social and economic reintegration in society,on an equal basis with others as mandated by the
Convention”.

In addition to having cleared all known anti-personnel mines, Mozambique has also destroyed 37,818 stockpiled mines. Land mines had been planted during three conflicts – during the colonial war prior to Mozambican independence in 1975, during the incursions by the Rhodesian armed forces in the late 1970s, and during the war of destabilisation waged
by the apartheid regime through the Renamo rebels up to the peace agreement signed in October 1992.

Since 2000 about 214,700 land mines have been removed and destroyed. Comissario was confirming the declaration made in Maputo on 17 September by Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi.

At the time, Baloi said Mozambique had become the first of the five most severely mined countries in the world to comply with the mine clearance obligations of the Ottawa Convention (the other four are Afghanistan,Cambodia, Angola and South Sudan)Original article

The case of the struggling Mozambican metical.

The sharp decline in the value of Mozambique's metical is due to depressed commodity prices, Central Bank Governor Ernesto
Gove said late on Monday.

The currency dropped around
25 percent in November,according to Reuters data,which traders have said reflects concerns over rising
government debt as well as the slump in commodities.

The metical was flat at 53.50 to the
U.S. dollar by 0910 GMT. "The depreciation of our currency is due to the fall in commodity prices in the global market.Our main exports are not yielding that much revenue," Gove told reporters.

Mozambique's main exports
include natural gas, coal, cotton
and aluminium.

Mozambican Islands,Nampula province The face mask,musiro,is used for beautifying the skin by women .

See the photoshere!