Maputo, Mozambique, 8 March – The Mozambican government is setting up conditions for national entrepreneurs to be given additional advantages in the mining sector projects underway in the country, Mozambique’s Mining Resources minister said in Maputo.

Cited by Mozambican newspaper Notícias, Esperança Bias, who was speaking at the quarterly meeting of the National Business council of the Mozambican Confederation of Economic Associations, said that, “for now, international tenders for large projects in the sector will also be published locally, to that national entrepreneurs can have access to the available opportunities.”

The minister added that this was a “challenge for everyone, including the government and the private sector, as making use of existing opportunities could become even more significant than it has been.”

In order to illustrate the situation, the Mining Resources Minister said that, “of the more than 1,000 licenses for prospecting, research and mining concessions, surveying and sales granted in the country just four Mozambican companies provide specific consultancy services for the mining business.”

“The focus is very much on Moatize, in Tete, but there are also geological and mining activities underway in the provinces of Zambézia, Nampula and Manica, and it is necessary for national business owners to also become interested in these parts of the country, with great intensity,” Bias said.

In his turn, the president of the confederation, Salimo Abdula, noted that, “the challenges are enormous for the installed capacity in Mozambique, which will certainly require great effort from the national private sector in relation to the enormous business opportunities that are available.” (macauhub)