The Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Company (HCB) has allocated 450 million meticais (7 million dollars) for the construction of the Chitima District Hospital in Tete Province, in the central region of the country, aiming to reduce the long journeys people currently make to access medical care. The hospital is expected to serve around 187,000 inhabitants from the districts of Cahora Bassa, Changara, Marávia, Mágoè, and Marara.
According to Lusa, the Minister of Health, Ussene Isse, thanked the company for the funding, emphasizing that “HCB is a true friend of the Mozambican people by investing in initiatives that will provide solutions to pressing challenges.”
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the minister revealed that the hospital will have 65 beds and will be built in phases, equipped with modern medical and hospital furniture.
“The new hospital will offer outpatient consultations and will include, among other services, an operating theatre, emergency services, maternity and obstetrics, a waiting mother-and-child unit, wards, a morgue, and a laundry. This initiative responds to the Government’s call to expand access to essential health services for underserved populations in the region,” said HCB CEO Tomás Matola.
Matola added that access to quality healthcare is crucial for community and national development. “We are proud to play a role in improving the health infrastructure of this region,” he concluded.
The Cahora Bassa reservoir is the fourth largest in Africa, with a maximum length of 270 kilometers and a width of 30 kilometers, covering 2,700 square kilometers with an average depth of 26 meters, and employing nearly 800 workers.
The Mozambican state owns 90% of HCB’s share capital, following the reversal agreement with Portugal in 2007, while the Portuguese company Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) holds 7.5%, and Electricidade de Moçambique holds 2.5%.
The dam is located in a narrow gorge of the Zambezi River, and its construction took place from 1969 to June 1, 1974, during the Portuguese colonial period, followed by the filling of the reservoir. Commercial operations began in 1977, with the first 960 megawatts (MW) produced by three generators, compared to the current installed capacity of 2,075 MW.
Two milestones later enabled the Mozambicanization of the enterprise after the country’s independence. The first occurred on October 31, 2006, with the signing of a protocol outlining the conditions necessary for the reversal and transfer of control from Portugal to the Mozambican state; the second took place a year later, with the completion of the reversal on November 27, 2007.
