The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, defended the fact that projects to exploit the country’s existing mineral resources should help improve social conditions, adding that it was important for there to be consensus during negotiations to avoid conflicts with communities.
The statesman explained that the issue of social responsibility and Local Content must be observed, emphasising that the growth of the extractive sector has had a direct impact on the increase in annual revenues, which are used to finance the construction of essential infrastructure for development.
‘The extractive sector in Mozambique has been growing on a large scale with the exploitation of mineral resources and hydrocarbons, but we must avoid conflicts and bring gains,’ he said during the inauguration of the Joaquim Mara resettlement village in the district of Inhassoro, Inhambane province, in the south of the country.
Filipe Nyusi said that the village, built by the South African company Sasol, is an example of territorial planning, considering that the infrastructure ‘rejects’ the narrative of usurping land or ‘imposing forced changes’ on the local community.
‘This resettlement space was built with resistant materials and includes, among other structures, single-family homes, sports areas, a school, teachers’ residences and churches. We recommend preserving them so that they can serve future generations,’ he concluded.
It was recently revealed that since 2004, Sasol, which exploits gas reserves in Temane and Pande, in Inhambane province, has exported 2.6 billion gigajoules (GJ) of natural gas from Mozambique out of a total of 3 billion produced in the last 20 years in the country.
‘This milestone not only put Mozambique on the regional map of natural gas producers, but also laid the foundations for the development of the oil sector at a national level, exporting gas to neighbouring South Africa and feeding the Mozambican power station at Ressano Garcia,’ said Nyusi.
