Mozambique: Government starts charging fees for use of maritime space

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Mozambique: Government starts charging fees for use of maritime space

9:31 CAT | 13 Sep 2022

File photo: INAMAR

INAMAR has already started issuing licenses for tourist resorts, ports and companies carrying out gas prospecting and scientific research to pay a fee for the use of maritime space

The Mozambican government has just started charging user fees to companies operating along the coastal areas or inside the 200 nautical miles of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

To that end, the government approved recently a new legal framework on the use of maritime private space which will regulate collection of fees, among other issues.

Leonid Chimarizene, spokesman for National Maritime Institute (INAMAR), the entity implementing the initiative, said that the sea offers huge opportunities for a number of activities, and hence the need to regulate the use of maritime space.

According to Chimarizene, cited in Monday’s issue of the daily “Notícias”, all entities involved in commercial activities inside maritime space are required to pay a user fee.

The same source, said that INAMAR has already started issuing licenses for tourist resorts, ports and companies carrying out gas prospecting and scientific research to pay a fee for the use of maritime space.

Some of these companies are signing up while others have already started making payments, which shows that those entities are well aware about their obligations.

“The same thing happens when we pay DUAT [land use title] and at sea there is a need to charge a fee for the space that is being exploited. Its potential is huge, which is the reason we are going to start issuing licenses to find out the number of companies operating along the Mozambican coast,” he explained.

He said that the mapping process will begin in the first quarter of next year, and urges those who have the notion that they are making private use of maritime space to contact INAMAR voluntarily.

Fees will be calculated according to the space occupied by each individual entity.

“It’s the law, all tourism resorts will have to pay, but we are going to launch a campaign to explain business operators about the procedures to be followed,” he said.

Source: AIM