World Bank funds urban planning for Mozambican town of Macia

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World Bank funds urban planning for Mozambican town of Macia

3:31 CAT | 29 Oct 2025

File photo: TV MACIA news

A World Bank grant of 10 million meticais (€134,200) will fund the development of territorial planning in the town of Macia, southern Mozambique, the local mayor told Lusa yesterday.

“The municipality of Macia did not have an urban structure plan or a territorial planning plan,” said Ramal Mussagy, president of Macia Municipal Council in Gaza province, located 140 kilometres from Maputo on National Highway Number 1 (N1), Mozambique’s main road.

According to the Mayor Mussagy, the plan aims to project the future of the municipality, with a view to creating a properly structured and organized territory for residences, schools and drainage systems. “Normally, each sector would have a separate plan to guide its development process,” he explained.

“What we did [with the funds] was hire a consulting firm to develop the urban structure plan,” Mussagy said.

The Mozambican government acknowledged , on June 30th, “persistent challenges” in the areas of housing and urban planning in the country, with the emergence of informal settlements and clandestine neighbourhoods, as well as the planned construction of more than 12,000 houses by 2029.

“In the next five years, we plan to build 12,100 houses, highlighting the housing projects in the city of Maputo and the petrochemical city in Vilankulo district, Inhambane province, which will provide more than 6,000 homes,” said Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Fernando Rafael, at the time.

Minister Rafael also acknowledged “persistent challenges” in Mozambique’s housing and urban planning sectors, pointing to the sometimes uncontrolled growth of “informal settlements and clandestine neighbourhoods” in the country’s major urban centres.

In addition to the 12,100 houses, Mozambique also hopes to reach the goal of 49,200 urbanized plots, with access to water, energy, sanitation and “areas reserved for public services” within five years.

Source: Lusa