The Northern Development Agency (ADIN) is holding the First Regional Conference on Infrastructure, Human Settlements and Rural Housing Improvement in Northern Mozambique in the city of Pemba from today (29) until 1 December.
The meeting will bring together representatives of the governments of the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Nampula, national and international partners, among other stakeholders, to discuss the future of housing in the northern region in the coming years.
At the same meeting, a programme called “Utheca” will be launched, a term in the Emakwa language meaning “Build”, which among several objectives aims to promote the construction of resilient homes for rural communities in northern Mozambique.
The Coordinator of ADIN’s Infrastructure Management Unit, Arlete Momade, revealed to the media that the construction process will be led by the communities themselves, but the allocation of material, such as roofing sheets, will be ensured by ADIN. The Agency wants the model for future rural housing in the north of the country to be the same as that implemented in Marrocane village, a reception centre for families displaced by the terrorist attacks located in the Ancuabe district.
According to Arlete Momade, in total the “Utheca” programme envisages the construction of 485 orderly villages, corresponding to the same number of families, and will improve the lives of around two million of the just over ten million people living in the three northern provinces.
It should be noted that during the armed struggle for national liberation, under the leadership of Samora Machel, FRELIMO promoted communal villages in liberated areas, a construction model in which, in addition to streets, there were spaces reserved for government infrastructure and sports.
Carta de Moçambique
