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Mazenga block: Affected people advocate a development-oriented project
12:12 CAT | 22 Feb 2022
File photo: Funktion
The resettlement of communities affected by investment projects should be development-oriented, and they should not be harmed, said influential figures from the province of Inhambane a few days ago in the first of seven days scheduled for public consultations on oil research and production in the onshore area of Mazenga.
Participants highlighted the need to find an economic balance in the opportunities that the extractive industry brings to affected communities, through their employability and in the places closest to the development projects.
In the first of seven scheduled meetings, the participants also raised the need to safeguard land rights, since, they said, the exploitation of mineral resources does not mean the loss of land by local communities.
On the other hand, they also want the 20% of the projects income earmarked for communities to be safeguarded, in the specific case of research and exploitation of hydrocarbons.
Likewise, participants in the public consultation meeting in Mazenga urged that the project consultants make all the information available to the communities – and not just to their leaders – by holding regular meetings, so that local residents would remain aware of what was happening in the area.
The same participants recommended the consultants avoid their seismic lines and access ways being used by actors for illegal forestry activities, and stressed the need to avoid the mistakes made in the past by companies exploiting mineral resources in the province.
Without specifying these irregularities, the community consultation forum for oil research and exploration in the Mazenga block stressed that the province must stop being used as a “womb for rent”.
“Inhambane must be a place for the exploitation and for the processing of resources. We do not want to continue to see our resources leave the province without concrete benefit to local communities,” stakeholders said.
The Mazenga block occupies approximately 23 thousand square kilometres in the province of Inhambane. It is limited in its entirety to the east by the Indian Ocean and to the west by the districts of Vilankulo, Massinga, Homoíne, Morrumbene, Funhalouro, Panda and Maxixe.
The hydrocarbon exploration and evaluation project will comprise a seismic survey and drilling of exploratory wells in three distinct phases, namely mobilisation, operation and demobilisation. To this end, the Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) signed a concession contract with the Mozambican government with a duration of eight years.
In the case of commercial discovery, a development and production period of 30 years will be granted, subject to approval of the Development Plan.
Read: Mazenga block: Oil exploration goes to public consultation in Inhambane province – Noticias
Mazenga block: ENH signs partnership for oil research – Noticias report
Source: Diário Econômico
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