Mozambique yields wealth

AS EXPLOITATION of Mozambique’s Tete coal fields and Pemba offshore natural gas deposits starts to move into high gear, the country is entering a period of intensive development of housing and other support infrastructure.

“The $555m acquisition by Anglo American of a 58,9% interest in the Revuboe coal project in northern Mozambique underlines its emergence as a world player on the coal stage,” says Brent Harris, CEO of Gauteng-based Vela Building Solutions.

More than 200 local and international companies now hold exploration licences in the Moatize Basin in Tete province where, over the next five years, more than 100-million tons of coal is forecast to be extracted and exported by a host of mining companies, he says.

“The housing and other community facilities required to support mining operations of that scale will be huge — not only in terms of providing shelter and other amenities for mine workers and contractor labour, but also for entire local communities that will inevitably be displaced and resettled to make way for mining.

“If you superimpose on that the associated coal rail and port facilities that are to be provided, as well as the onshore infrastructure needed to underpin exploitation of the natural gas deposits offshore of the port city of Pemba, you are looking at a mammoth investment in housing, schools, clinics, community centres, retail outlets, offices and even police stations.”

According to a recent Ernst & Young survey, Mozambique was one of the most popular foreign investment destinations in 2011, during which investment projects rose by 73% over the previous year.