Former Fisheries Minister Maíta appointed executive-director of Millennium Challenge Account Mozambique

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Former Fisheries Minister Maíta appointed executive-director of Millennium Challenge Account Mozambique

10:49 CAT | 24 Jul 2024

File photo: Notícias

Mozambique’s government appointed former Minister of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries Augusta Maíta as executive director of the Millennium Challenge Account Mozambique which will manage US support totalling $500 million in the country.

According to a statement, the decision was taken ton Tuesday at an ordinary cabinet meeting, which approved the resolution appointing the former minister to the post.

In March, the Mozambican government announced the creation of an institution to manage more than $537 million (€494 million), including $500 million (€460 million) from the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

‘The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Mozambique is a temporary institution, and its operation is planned for the next seven years,’ said Filimão Suaze, government spokesman, in statements to the media after a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Mozambique on 19 March.

The total investment includes $37 million (€34 million) from the state.

The US funding, called Compact II and signed on 20 September on Capitol Hill in Washington in the presence of the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi, includes a new bridge on the Licungo River in Zambezia and a ring road in that central coastal province, which has been hit by the cyclones that have affected Mozambique in recent years.

In December 2023, the Compact II Development Office in Mozambique, with US funding of $500 million, planned to launch the tender for constructing a new bridge over the Licungo River and a ring road in 2024.

The project includes the construction of a new 1,800-metre-long bridge, some 5,000 metres downstream from the current crossing, and 16 kilometres of new access road connecting the bridge to the N1 National Road.

Zambezia province, Mozambique’s second-most populous province, known for its tea plantations, mangrove swamps, and turquoise beaches, will be the focus of the new project by MCC, an external support agency funded by the US government that provides subsidies to developing countries.

This funding compact, called the Mozambique Coastal Connectivity and Resilience Pact, is the second to be funded in the country since 2007.

Overall, the MCC allocates $310.5 million (€290 million) to Connectivity and Rural Transport (CTR) projects, including the bridge over the Licungo River and the construction of the Mocuba bypass, a project valued at $201 million (€187.7 million).

Almost $83.5 million (€78 million) has been earmarked for the construction of rural roads and $11 million (€10.3 million) for road maintenance, among others.

The Reforms and Investment in Agricultural Projects (PRIA) component has been allocated $30 million, half of which is for the Agricultural Investment Tax reform package and the other half for setting up the Zambézia Province Commercial Aggregation Platform.

The third structural component, worth $100 million (around €90 million), is aimed at Coastal Livelihood and Climate Resilience (CLCR) projects to strengthen productivity ‘through sustainable increases in fish and shellfish harvesting and non-extractive activities’, but also using ‘sustainable ecosystem benefits, such as carbon credits and coastal protection benefits’.

Source: Lusa