Beira City: One year after the cyclone, rebuilding in fits and starts

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Beira City: One year after the cyclone, rebuilding in fits and starts

1:00 CAT | 05 Mar 2020

Photo: Voa Portugues

March 14 will mark the first anniversary of Cyclone Idai hitting Beira and the central region of Mozambique, but delivery on the promised pledges to help rebuild remains patchy.

After the calamity, the government said it would need US$3.2 billion to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by cyclones Idai and Kenneth – the latter affecting mainly the north of the country.

At the reconstruction conference, international and national partners only pledged to finance US$1.3 billion.

US$20 million loan for affected businesses

A loan of US$20 million was announced for the business sector, just part of the US$140 million needed to rebuild the business fabric of Sofala province and its capital.

Nádia Adrião, from the Reconstruction Office, explains. “For us to carry out the processes required by the partners, there are conditions that need to be fulfilled (…) At the moment, we are finalising these documents, but it is not uniform, nor is it unilateral,” she said.

Adrião reports some progress. “We are already identifying the commercial bank that will be responsible for this financing. As regards to interest, it is already negotiated, and the banks will not impose extra interest. Interest rates will be those agreed with the World Bank.”

Although insufficient, businessman Félix Machado says this is a good start, since “even if we have only a part, it will help, and companies will not close”.

Good coordination

But “if we start creating segments and bureaucracy, then we end up blocking the President of the Republic’s initiative,” says Machado.

And Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário also believes that, only with better coordination between the entities supporting reconstruction, can we achieve good results.

“We have to establish common goals to be able to move forward. Right now, I feel we are not in sync,” he said.

Source: Voa Portugues