Mozambique: Conjunctivitis outbreak affecting productivity - businesses
The increasingly dilapidated Textafrica company premises in Chimoio are at the centre of feasibility studies into the resumption of fabric production in the provincial capital of Manica in central Mozambique.
Speaking at a meeting to assess regional development, Manica governor Alberto Mondlane, quoted today by Diario de Moçambique, said that the resumption of textile production in Manica was under consideration, but that it would be premature to declare at what stage the initiative was.
Neither did Mondlane specify any particulars concerning the revitalization of the largest textile mill in the country.
Textafrica is still owned by a Portuguese company , although the Mozambican state has “not infrequently asked to position itself as a major shareholder whenever signs of bankruptcy appeared,” reports AIM.
The aim was still to find a suitable use for the premises, but the government’s efforts had not failed to prevent the loss of more than 3,000 jobs, with the work force porrly compensated, with company houses in the SOALPO neighbourhood being assigned to some of the workers that were already occupying them.
Difficulties in completing compensation arrangements had often led to workers demonstrating in streets and in front of Ministry of Labour buildings in Chimoio. Mondlane was cautious on the subject and asked that expectations not be raised unduly as the project was still in the embryonic stage.
Mondlane also spoke of the importance of recapitalizing cotton production, depressed as a cash crop in the region for more than five years despite the existence of a processing plant. With the shutdown of Textáfrica and EMMA ( Empresa de Malhas de Moçambique) the cotton crop has declined severely.
Many family cotton producers have now found jobs in the food processing industry in the Guro district of northern Manica province.
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