Infrastructure Accounts for 50 Percent of Foreign Investment in Mozambique

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Infrastructure Accounts for 50 Percent of Foreign Investment in Mozambique

2:50 CAT | 13 Jan 2016

Jornal Notícias

More than 50 percent of foreign investment in Mozambique between 2010 and 2014, valued at US$23 billion, went into infrastructure construction.

So said Investment Promotion Centre (CPI) representative Danúbio Lado in Maputo on Monday, at a conference on infrastructure attended by Mozambique’s deputy minister of Transport and Communications Manuela Rebelo and the Japanese vice minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Takatoshi Nishiwaki.

“Mozambique approved projects worth US$23 billion between 2010 and 2014 and 56.69 percent of this amount was for infrastructure.” said Lado during his presentation, noting that Mozambique has great potential in various sectors.

According to Lado, most of the infrastructure investment was in the energy, transport and communications and industrial sectors.

“Industry accounted for 14.12 percent, energy 27.18 percent and transport and communications, 15.04 percent,” Lado said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Mozambican Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications noted that our country acts as a gateway to markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The establishment of Japanese business in Mozambique gives the country confidence, but has also contributed significantly to the different variables of the socio-economic development,” said the deputy minister.

Her Japanese counterpart, Takatoshi Nishiwaki, replied that Mozambique will need many years to improve the quality of its infrastructure. “Gradually, we can improve the quality of infrastructure,” he said.

Vice-president of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), Rui Monteiro, said that the 2010 African Development Bank (AfDB) infrastructure development index put Mozambique 42nd in a list of 53 countries, demonstrating the great maintenance challenge that exists.

“Despite considerable and sustained public investment, current infrastructure is still insufficient to meet basic needs in areas such as access to electricity, roads, water supplies, sanitation, telecommunications and Internet services,” Monteiro said.

Monteiro also noted that, although its figures have improved, Mozambique still has about the same AfDB ranking it had in 2000, suggesting little improvement in infrastructure over the past decade compared with other countries.

The construction sector was the fastest-growing in the last three years, averaging 15 percent per year. This means that infrastructure stock has increased, opening up more business opportunities in maintenance, Monteiro added.

Source: AIM