Maputo, 5 Sep (AIM) –The Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, believes that the Maragra Sugar Company, in the southern Mozambican district of Manhiça, may resume its activities before the start of the next agricultural campaign.
The company, which lost 3.6 billion meticais (56 million dollars, at the current exchange rate) due to flooding last February, needs about 100 million dollars to recover from the damage.
To this end, according to Moreno, speaking on the sidelines of the opening of a meeting of his Ministry’s Coordinating Council, the sugar company will be counting on new investors and the government will intervene to ensure that the process of restoring the company does not harm the workers or the national economy.
“There are efforts to recover the company and I think it’s at an advanced stage. We believe that by next season it will be up and running,” he said.
According to the minister, the Mozambican authorities are keen for the company to start operating again.
For this reason, Moreno said “what we will do as a government is to facilitate this process of transfer or sale to other investors to happen smoothly, and we have information that this process is already well underway”.
“For the time being, and according to the information we have, there is a new company that will be taking care of Maragra in the near future,” he said, stressing that the government has no objections to this transition of ownership, but only has to ensure that the rules governing the transfer are observed.
It is estimated that the paralysis of the Maragra sugar company affects around 5,000 permanent and seasonal workers.
(AIM)
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