Mozambique Seeks New Funding for Beira’s Fishing Port

Mozambique said on Monday it was looking for new financiers to bankroll US$100 million needed to reconstruct Beira port after the Bank for Economic Development of Africa (BADEA) refused to increase the initially agreed funding of US$20 million.

An evaluation carried out by an international consultancy pointed to restoration work on the port costing around US$20 million, but companies that have competed for the tender have concluded that the cost would be around five times higher, that is US$100 million.

A mission from BADEA that recently traveled to Mozambique told the government that it would not increase the initially outlined value of US$20 million.

“The government is now seeking new financiers, a process which is not easy at all,” Fisheries Minister Cadamiel Muthemba told reporters in Maputo on Monday.

Based on figures provided by the consultancy, a consortium made up of Bangladesh Consultant and Técnica, the government, which already had guaranteed funding from BADEA, scheduled a date for work to start this year, which is why it launched the tender for the project.

Due to these difficulties, Muthemba said that it was still difficult to know when work would begin.

The fact that the fishing port at Beira is not in operation means that vessels have to use the city’s commercial port which, as well as not having the conditions to unload fishing catches, has higher tariffs, which has led to complaints from fleet owners that have seen their competitiveness reduced.

Source African Press Agency

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