Almost a year after Idai and Kenneth, reconstruction in Mozambique has yet to restart – A Verdade

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Almost a year after Idai and Kenneth, reconstruction in Mozambique has yet to restart – A Verdade

1:11 CAT | 07 Feb 2020

Photo: A Verdade

Almost a year after cyclones Idai and Kenneth devastated the centre and north of Mozambique, the reconstruction of housing, public institutions, roads and other infrastructure has not yet started.

“It is important to find a way to make the year 2020 an effective start for reconstruction actions on the ground,” declared the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources after meeting with the government’s development partners.

Last year, only emergency actions, costing about US$162 million, were carried out. This year, the aim is to invest US$189 million.

Shelters and temporary housing, repair and rehabilitation of school and health infrastructures, water supply, roads, bridges are among the activities carried out since Cyclone Idai tore up the central region of Mozambique in March 2019 and Cyclone Kenneth struck Cabo Delgado province last May. Costs amounted to US$162 million.

This amount is a small portion of the US$3.2 billion requested by the Mozambican government during the Post-Idai and Kenneth Reconstruction Conference, of which only US$635 million has been confirmed.

There is an overall deficit of US$1.8 billion, the executive director of the Post-Cyclone Reconstruction Office, Francisco Pereira, revealed on Thursday (February 6), at a meeting that brought together the authorities of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources and development partners in Maputo..

Pereira presented the initial reconstruction plans, estimated at US$189.2 million. These cover support for social recovery, seeds and production kits, support and recovery for the private sector, rehabilitation of the Beira Employment Centre, construction of agricultural infrastructure , repair of some more roads and bridges, rehabilitation of power transmission and distribution lines, post-cyclone accommodation, construction of water supply infrastructures, construction of school infrastructures, construction of health infrastructure, rehabilitation of public buildings.

“We want to leave documentary analysis to see things happening on the ground”

“It is important that we find a way to make the year 2020 an effective start for reconstruction actions on the ground,” Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources João Machatine said. “We have several sectors of infrastructure, private and social. From what we can see, funds are already guaranteed, so that we can now start on the ground with concrete actions.”

Postcyclone.moprh-antoniosanchez — *Photo: A Verdade*

“There must be more pragmatism in the processes. We want to see documentary proof of things happening on the ground, and we are convinced that this will be the case, judging by the commitment that the actions will start that has been reiterated,” Machatine said.

Always pragmatic, the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources warned: “But we must not forget that we have our normal governance development plan, which is carried out by the same people who will carry out the reconstruction process. It is not enough to just say that the resources are there; the most important thing is the ability to implement the projects.”

Speaking on behalf of the governments cooperation partners, European Union Ambassador António Sanchéz-Benedito Gaspar said: “We are now reaching cruise speed in terms of reconstruction efforts. An important part of the Beira Conference’s commitments has already been confirmed; more than one billion US dollars have been confirmed and are already being implemented in different programmes.”

By Adérito Caldeira

Source: A Verdade