Municipality of Beira authorises reconstruction works without prior license

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Municipality of Beira authorises reconstruction works without prior license

2:22 CAT | 26 Mar 2019

Photo courtesy: Conselho Municipal da Beira / Facebook

The municipal government of the Mozambican city of Beira has authorised the rebuilding of houses and infrastructure destroyed by the cyclone without prior municipal license until May 31, 2019.

The special authorisation was granted in a communique by the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango.

“Cyclone Idai has destroyed a great deal of infrastructure and because families, the economic and public sector need to carry out replacement works, the Municipal Council of Beira has decided that this can be done without prior license until May 31, 2019,” the statement reads.

In an interview with the Lusa news agency on Monday, Simango said that “the city had been completely wrecked. A ghost city, without communications, without knowing what was happening”.

Winds of around 170 kilometres per hour swept everything before them and a whole month’s rain in one night, according to estimates on the Internet published by relief organisations.

The mayor described how Beira’s coastal protection was ripped from the ground.

“These are large pieces of concrete, placed there in the 50s and 60s, which had never moved an inch,” until the Idai arrived.

The Beira Municipality has also exempted vendors at the city’s largest market, the Maquinino, of paying municipal fees.

Cyclone Idai’s passage through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi caused at least 762 deaths, according to the most recent official figures. In Mozambique, the number of confirmed dead rose to 447. In Zimbabwe, 259 were killed, and in Malawi the authorities recorded 56 dead.

The coastal city of Beira, in Mozambique’s central region, was worst hit by the cyclone, which struck on the night of March 14.

Source: Lusa