Mozambique: Locals invade Chongoene port terminal, expel managers – O País

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Mozambique: Locals invade Chongoene port terminal, expel managers – O País

1:35 CAT | 06 Feb 2025

Photo: O País

Local residents have again invaded Chongoene port terminal in Gaza province and halted construction work, allegedly because the company managing the project failed to meet an agreement to electrify part of the area.

The latest agreement between the local population and the company responsible for the construction of the Chongoene port terminal in Gaza was signed about a week ago, following protests motivated by the failure to comply with social responsibility actions in the community since 2023.

Under the aforementioned agreement, the Chinese-owned company committed to electrifying half of the Nhampfunhine community. This failed to occur, although the company says it has already made the full amount available.

“What happened to us back on the streets is that everything is at a standstill on our side and the work at the company is being investigated, which is why we decided to stop activities,” said a resident of the Nhampfunwine community.

On Tuesday, residents went to the Chongoene port worksite and expelled workers, including their managers for failure to comply with the agreement.

“We will not accept this anymore, we have decided to break the peace and expel the Chinese managers from the project. As soon as the conditions are met for compliance with the agreement, we will talk again,” said another resident.

In turn, the spokesperson for Dingsheng Minerals says that the concessionaire has already spent more than six million meticais for the acquisition of electrification material and blames the local government authorities for the delay in the works.

“When we signed the agreement with the government and the population, we bought the [electrification] materials and delivered them to Electricidade de Moçambique [EDM]. The material cost more than six million meticais,” explained Lio Ling.

In response, director of the Gaza provincial planning and infrastructure services Alberto Matusse said that the electrification project was already 50% complete.

“The installation of the posts was completed yesterday and today, the installation of the low-voltage posts is underway, to later be replaced by the medium-voltage posts and finally the installation of the transformer stations,” he explained.

Chongoene district administrator Artur Macamo tried to calm the unrest, but without success. He however denies that the agreement has failed.

“We sat down with the population and asked for the works to resume, but there was no consensus. Now, we are interacting with the Chinese managers to deepen the existing capacity to comply with the electrification agreement,” Macamo says.

The suspension of the works at the Chongoene port terminal jeopardizes the export of more than 270,000 tons of minerals processed at the Chibuto heavy sands mining project.

Source: O País