Maputo, 28 Aug (AIM) – The Maragra Sugar Company, in the southern Mozambican district of Manhiça, needs about 100 million dollars to recover from the damage caused by flooding on the Incomati river last February.
The company has lost 3.6 billion meticais (56 million dollars, at the current exchange rate), and, due to the flooding, 470,000 tonnes of cane in the production fields were lost, corresponding to a value of 1.6 billion meticais.
According to the company’s Director-General, Filipe Raposo, cited in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Notícias”, the damage hinders the functioning of the irrigation system and this makes it difficult to plan cane production.
“The flooding also damaged the electricity and drainage systems, as well as other equipment needed for cane processing”, Raposo said.
According to the Director-General, the work to restore the pumping station only started a month ago, due to the difficulties faced in reaching certain regions of the cane fields.
“Taking into account the work carried out so far, we know what is necessary to resume production”, he said, adding that the company was the victim of vandalism after the flooding and this contributed to the losses.
(AIM)
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