Population complains of land expropriations in Pemba: 7.50 meticais per square metre – report

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Population complains of land expropriations in Pemba: 7.50 meticais per square metre – report

9:16 CAT | 25 Oct 2018

A total of 784 families saw their land expropriated, in a process which started in 2014 and covered about 8,000 hectares. FILE (for illustration purposes only) - Street commerce in Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado province. Voa Portugues

Some of the people living in the area where the Pemba Logistics Base is to be built are contesting the compensation they have received for the expropriation of their land. In addition to deriding the “ridiculous amounts” on offer, the residents of four neighbourhoods are complaining that no replacement land is being allocated.

The mayor of Pemba, Tagir Carimo, says that the municipality has paid compensation for expropriated land in accordance with the values made available and defined by Ports of Cabo Delgado, and even increased the per-square-metre amount, while Pemba District administrator Isaura Conceição says there is no alternative land in the city to allocate to those affected.

A total of 784 families saw their land expropriated, in a process which started in 2014 and covered about 8,000 hectares.

The company responsible for the project, Ports of Cabo Delgado (PCD), set the compensation amount at 7.50 meticais per square metre [around US$0.12 at current exchange rates], meaning households would receive amounts ranging from 2,000 to 430,000 meticais [from around US$32.94 to US$7082.1 at current exchange rates].

Fitar Zacarias, one of the heads of families who has refused to accept the compensation as calculated, said the fixing of the amounts “did not go through any dialogue with the municipality or with the PCD. When we were called to the municipality, they simply indicated the amounts to us”.

Pemba mayor Tagir Carimo says that all the procedures provided for by law were observed, and that the municipality had in fact obliged PCD to increase the compensation amount from two to 7.50 meticais per square metre [from around US$0.033 to US$0.12 at current exchange rates].

Carimo adds that “we led the process of bringing families together and said at the time that we wanted to be sure that people would actually receive these values. The PCD then responded, transferring the money to the municipality coffers and starting the compensation process”.

Mayor Carimo says that the process involved 40 million meticais [around US$658800 at current exchange rates], against the previous 14 million meticais [around US$230580 at current exchange rates], referring further requests for information to the PCD.

“If there is an feeling that the compensation was not fair, or that compensation was imposed on people, we advise those concerned to submit counter-proposals and negotiate with the PCD,” Carimo said.

District Administrator Máquina says that she does not understand the reasons for the populations’ claims, reiterating that there were consultations with the community and that the compensation was mutually agreed. As to the replacement land, Máquina said that the process could not be compared with that in Palma, as none of the families actually resided in the locations now expropriated.

“The district is open to help the population find arable plots in negotiation with the district of Metuge which has several extensions available, and we have spoken to PCD itself about some possible social responsibility interventions,” she said.

The Pemba port and logistics terminals were concessioned by the government for 30 years to Ports of Cabo Delgado, which in turn subcontracted the ENH Integrated Logistics Services project, a consortium formed by Nigeriana Orlean Invest and ENH Logístics.

Source: Voa Portugues