Maputo city government urged to solve basic problems

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Maputo city government urged to solve basic problems

8:39 CAT | 17 Aug 2017

File photo / After the Chapas came the My Loves

The Plan and Budget Commission (CPO) of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, has called on the government of Maputo City to take concrete measures to solve the basic problems of the people of the capital, particularly the dire state of public transport.

There is a still a dramatic shortage of buses, with the result that many Maputo citizens are forced to rely on the privately owned minibuses known as “chapas”, or worse still, on the pick-up trucks where passengers are packed together as if they were cattle, and which have been nicknamed ironically as “my love”.

The Commission’s chairperson, Eneas Comiche, expressed the CPO’s concerns on Thursday morning during a visit by CPO members to the premises of the Maputo City government, intended to assess the city’s level of implementation of the economic and social plan and the state budget for 2017.

Comiche, who was once Mayor of Maputo, stressed that the city should be cleaner and less polluted by informal vendors who continue to peddle their wares illicitly on the pavements of many of the city’s thoroughfares.

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He said the CPO also wanted to see achievements in agriculture “since the city has great potential in its green belt for vegetable production. This is important so that we will no longer need to import these products from South Africa”.

“We would like to see concrete measures on social matters such as public transport, in order to do away with the ‘my loves’, and then we will see a cleaner and more welcoming city”, Comiche added.

As part of its job of monitoring government activities, the CPO has also visited, since the beginning of this month, Inhambane, Gaza and Maputo provinces. There the Commission expressed satisfaction at an increase in agricultural and livestock production and productivity

Comiche stressed that increased productivity was a significant step towards reducing the import of grain, particularly of rice.

Despite the encouraging signs that the Mozambican economy is recovering from the crisis of 2016, Comiche said it is still necessary to make savings and rationalize expenditure in order to ensure implementation of the government’s five year programme, and restore confidence among the government’s international partners.

Comiche’s delegation also met with Maputo civil society organisations, and later visited the site where the bridge is being built that will span Maputo Bay, linking the centre of the city to the outlying district of Katembe.

Source: AIM