Maputo, Mozambique, 7 July – Galpbuzi, a consortium made up of Mozambican company Companhia do Búzi and Portugal’s Galp Energia has long term plans to set up a biofuel refinery in the town of Búzi, in Mozambique’s Sofala province, said the director general of the consortium.

Cited by newspaper Notícias, Gonçalo Barradas said that in order for the project to go ahead some fundamental aspects had to be considered, specifically the existence in the area of production and seeds and added that 150 hectare of jatropha and 25 hectares of sunflowers had been planted on an experimental basis in Bândua.

Mentioning that the project needed an area of land of 8,000 hectares and production of 5,000 tonnes of seeds, Barradas said that the consortium was planning to invest 100,000 euros, with part of production expected to be exported and the remainder used for domestic consumption.

The project is expected to cover 5,000 hectares in less than 10 years, and Galpbuzi officials are also counting on the participation of small, medium and large scale farmers to supply the refinery.

“If we manage to get the quantities of seed that can justify setting up a factory to extract the oils both for export and for national consumption, Galbuzi will certainly move ahead with the project,” he said. (macauhub)