Watch: Funding of of 104 million dollars promised at Niassa conference

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Watch: Funding of of 104 million dollars promised at Niassa conference

8:59 CAT | 09 Apr 2018

TVM

Funding of rather more than 104 million US dollars is the immediate balance sheet from the investors’ conference for the northern Mozambican province of Niassa, which closed on Friday in the provincial capital, Lichinga.

According to the Niassa provincial governor, Arlindo Chilundo, speaking at the closing session of the conference, this sum will finance nine projects.

“This is an immediate reaction from those who have already familiarized themselves with Niassa”, said Chilundo. “We understand that it is not possible for those coming here for the first time to make an immediate commitment. So we are hopeful that in the coming days we will have many more commitments”.

“The province has abundant natural resources”, declared the governor. “Even the human resources also exist, despite the need for their continual and permanent training, since success in the struggle against poverty is centred on men and women”.

Among the problems that most concern Niassa is the lack of infrastructures, but these are now being built. Fiscal incentives, which the government is continually refining, are also a reality in Niassa, said Chilundo.

The conference, he summarised, had presented and discussed 16 themes, including “how and where we can fetch money to invest in the various areas of development”.

“This is very important, particularly for our business people in Niassa”, he said, stressing that “even with the difficulties we face, it is possible to do lucrative business in Niassa”.

Flexibility in allocating land for investment was one of the questions that polarized debate during the conference. “We are prepared for this”, said Chilundo. “We have institutions working day and night to ensure continual facilitation of access to land”.

He assured investors that the provincial government will work to issue land use titles (known as DUATs) speedily, in order to make investment more secure. “We want to improve the business environment, by removing red tape and the barriers to investment”, the governor declared.

The Niassa Strategic Plan for 2018-2029 recommends the zoning of districts so as to facilitate investment in Niassa in a sustainable manner. “We have to know where we can practice agriculture, for example”, said Chilundo.
By the end of the plan in 2020, “We would like to take pride in having done something for the development of the province”, he added.

Financial bodies such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank were represented at the conference. “We are counting on them on the various fronts of activity to catapult the development of Niassa”, said the governor.