Mozambique: Government establishes Port Jurisdiction Area in Chongoene

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Mozambique: Government establishes Port Jurisdiction Area in Chongoene

1:02 CAT | 11 Jul 2024

Image. AIM

The Mozambican government has announced the delimitation of the area to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Port of Chongoene, located in the district of Chongoene, Gaza province.

Speaking at the press briefing after the Council of Ministers session on Tuesday, spokesperson Filimão Suaze explained that the area aims to allow the functionality of the Chongoene Port Terminal Project, as well as facilitating the planning and integration of possible future terminals.

Suaze, who is also deputy minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, further said that the creation of the Chongoene Port area will also allow for more operational spaces and port services to be granted, “respecting the social, environmental, legal and economic losses arising from the development of other port projects”.

Concession for Chongoene Port Terminal infrastructure

Allied with the port and in the same session, the cabinet approved the concession of the Chongoene Port Terminal infrastructure.

The concession was granted to Sociedade Terminal de Minérios de Chongoene, SA, constituted by the Chinese mining company Desheng Port, S.A., and the public company Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM).

Suaze said that the concession, under a public-private partnership regime, allows Desheng Port to build, operate, carry out maintenance, management and after a certain period of time, return the Chongoene Port Terminal infrastructure to the government.

“It is within the scope of the discussion, let’s say, of what the investment to be made will be and then the spacing and duration of the infrastructure will be determined. These are details that then remain to be operationalized,” he said.

Last April, during its 14th ordinary session, the Council of Ministers gave approval for CFM and Desheng to begin construction of the Chongoene Port Terminal.

At the time, Suaze explained that the investment for the construction of the Chongoene Port Terminal would be in phases. The first phase involves an investment of around US$55 million and “much more will be invested in the second phase”.

Chibuto heavy sands

The Chongoene Port Terminal will facilitate the execution of the Chibuto heavy sands operation led by Dingsheng Minerals, whose production is estimated at two million tons per year. President of the Republic Filipe Nyusi inaugurated the project in December, 2021.

In addition to heavy sands, Dingsheng Minerals is involved in mining titanium and zinc, but previously lacked the infrastructure to export them.

Port.clbrief

Recently, Dingsheng Minerals officials announced that around 400,000 tons of titanium produced in the heavy sands of Chibuto were awaiting export to the Asian market.

Without specifying how long the production has been stored for, company officials revealed that it had not yet been exported due to the high costs of road transport to the Port of Maputo, from where it would leave for Asia.

At the time, the officials from Dingsheng Minerals stated that the constraints faced by the mining company would be overcome once the construction of Chongoene port was completed.

In the meantime, mining production at Dingsheng Minerals ‘ Chibuto operation continues to rise, after the inauguration in December of two heavy sands processing units.

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