The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy intends to present the proposal to revise the electricity law later this year. But, according to the National Director of Energy, Pascoal Bacela, the price of energy is not the main subject of the review.
Cheaper energy is not what one should expect form the revision of the electricity law, in place since 1997. The government’s main priority, in fact, is sustainability.
“We have to have tariffs which reflect costs, because if tariffs are below costs, we will not have a sustainable energy supply sector,” he said.
Bacela also said that the proposal aims to guarantee potential investors that renewable energies will have predominant role in the country’s electrification.
Inclusive governance for economic structural transformation in Mozambique
Bacela was speaking to the press on the sidelines of the launch of a debate platform called Africa Policy Dialogue which aims to promote inclusive governance in the management of natural resources.
The director-general of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), which will coordinate the platform in Mozambique, explains that a change in the pattern of natural resource management is expected.
For Adriano Nuvunga, the focus should be on local content, giving young entrepreneurs opportunities to influence major projects.
“The natural gas that we have in abundance in Mozambique should be managed in such a way that Mozambicans benefit,” Nuvunga said, adding that the benefits of gas should not come only from revenue collection.
Asked about the challenge of international certification of products and services for the multinationals investing in natural resources in Mozambique, Nuvunga replied that this [international certification] is “an argument used to exclude many people from participating”.
“Local content clearly presupposes support for the empowerment of young entrepreneurs (…) so, one cannot expect that young people could already, in the initial phase, have the capacity to produce to that high standard,” he argued.
The production of eggs and chickens was offered as one area which could be leveraged to provide young people with opportunities.
The ‘African Policy Dialogues’ is an initiative of the international INCLUDE platform which marshals knowledge in support of developmental policies for Africa.
The Dutch-African platform promotes evidence-based policymaking on inclusive development in Africa through research, knowledge sharing and policy dialogue. On its website, INCLUDE announces: “[African Policy Dialogues] will assess the role of governance structures (local, provincial and national) in enhancing economic growth with structural transformation among smallholder farmers to improve food security and nutrition (FSN) in Mozambique.”
The African Policy Dialogues initiative is also being implemented in Kenya,Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda and Ghana.
Source: Club of Mozambique