Mozambique: Government approves simplified access to electricity for SMEs

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Mozambique: Government approves simplified access to electricity for SMEs

12:27 CAT | 26 Feb 2020

FILE: For illustration purposes only, [File photo: The Weather Club]

The government yesterday approved the simplification of procedures for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Mozambique to get an electricity connection. The measure is part of efforts to improve the business environment, thereby generating employment and improving living standards, Noticias reports.

Tuesday’s Council of Ministers meeting approved the amendment to the electrical installation licensing regulations in order to boost the emergence and development of SMEs.

Council of Ministers spokesperson Filimão Suaze explained that the legal amendment approved yesterday concerned the 7th category of electrical installations (39.6 KVA) which include a transformer, which will from now on be supplied by Mozambique Electricity (EDM) at no cost to the customer.

According to Noticias, the previous regime required interested companies to import the transformer on their own account and follow procedures that could take 40 or more days to be concluded.

From now on, SMEs will see the time to establish electrical connections reduced to 23 days, in addition to finding procedures simplified and costs cut.

Yesterday’s Council of Ministers session also considered information about population growth in Mozambique, according to which, in the next thirty years, the 2017 population census figure of 27.9 million inhabitants will more than double to 59.9 million in 2050.

Filimão Suaze added that the projections indicate that Mozambique will end the year with just over 30 million inhabitants.

The 6th ordinary session of the Council of Ministers also approved the reappointment of Ana Coana as President of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE), as well as the elevation of the towns of Moatize, in Tete, and Vilankulo, in Inhambane, to the category of city, in view of the pace of their socioeconomic development and population growth.

Source: Noticias