Mozambique: EDM to invest 20 million dollars
Photo: Domingo
Mozambique’s government intends to provide mains gas to at least half the neighbourhoods of the capital, Maputo, by 2030 as an alternative to the rise in the price of fuel in Mozambique, an official source announced on Tuesday. “We want to reach more Maputo city neighbourhoods so that the capital stops using bottled gas and has mains gas. Having half of Maputo’s neighbourhoods with mains gas by 2030 will be our great satisfaction,” said Moisés Paulino, national director for hydrocarbons and fuels at the ministry for mineral resources and energy (Mireme).
Paulino was speaking to journalists after a visit to neighbourhoods where the project is being implemented in Maputo, which is estimated to cost 30 million meticals (€463,000).
According to Paulino, the initiative “is an alternative that the government, as a gas producer, is offering to inhabitants” to deal with the rise in the price of gas.
The Mozambican Energy Regulatory Authority (Arene) announced on 1 July the third fuel price rise this year, with cooking gas up almost 20%.
The government hopes to distribute mains gas to 200 families this year in the 25 de Junho, Coop and Munhuana neighbourhoods in Maputo, with another 100 homes using the gas since 2021 in the Airport neighbourhood, used for the pilot phase of the project. “I have been using mains gas for a year, and it is very economical because I can buy it for the amount I have available,” said Luísa Adolfo, a housewife and resident of Aeroporto.
Adolfo says that her bottled gas, which at the time cost around 850 meticais (€13), would not last a month, but with mains gas, she now saves more and spends 900 meticais (€14) per month.
“The cost of a bottle of gas is higher for the citizen’s pocket compared to the cost of getting it from this project,” Paulino said, noting that the gas is pre-paid, and there is no set price.
The authorities said there was enough safety to prevent explosions, noting that the pipeline was at least 90 centimetres deep and that the system automatically cut off the gas supply and sent an alert to the power station when it detected a leak or anomaly in the facilities.
According to the hydrocarbons director, the government’s “big challenge” is to expand the initiative to other regions of the country to “respond to the rising cost of living”.
“The technology is ready. The big challenge is to make this gas reach more Mozambicans,” he stressed.
According to the authorities, the project was first implemented in Inhambane, with around 3,000 connections made in the districts of Inhassoro and Vilanculos.
Watch the TVM report.
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