Mozambique Mining: Minister warns over corruption on mining licensing

Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Leticia Klemens, on Wednesday, recognized that the licensing of mining areas is prone to corrupt practices, and these must be denounced and fought against.

Speaking at the opening of a meeting of the Coordinating Council of her ministry in the southern city of Matola, Klemens called for preventive measures to halt corruption in licensing, and said that disciplinary and criminal proceedings should be started against anyone suspected of involvement in such practices.

She stressed that the simplification of licensing procedures is one measure that could contribute towards eliminating or reducing corruption in the sector.

“We are very concerned at the signs of deviations and failure to comply with the duty of good administration in some areas in our sector”, said Klemens. She condemned the use of public power for personal gain or the satisfaction of private interests.

Those who work in the public administration, she insisted, must defend the public interest, and seek the best possible solutions to meet the needs of citizens.

Mozambique’s current economic circumstances, the Minister said, have delayed some of the actions envisaged in the government’s Economic and Social Plan for the year. This posed a challenge to the mineral resource sector to look for solutions that could soften the impact of an inadequate budget.

Klemens said that, despite the constraints her ministry had faced, priority energy projects had been completed successfully – including the rehabilitation of the Chicamba and Mavuzi hydroelectric dams on the Revue river, in the central province of Manica; the rehabilitation of the Chibata and Dondo electricity sub-stations and the Chibata-Dondo transmission line; and the construction of a sub-station at Namialo, in the northern province of Nampula. In addition, construction had begun on the combined cycle gas-fired power station in Maputo.

“Given how meagre the resources allocated are”, Klemens said, “we have centred our activities on the priority energy projects and on the hydrocarbon and mineral projects with the greatest weight in the overall structure of production – such as the natural gas, heavy sands and coal projects”.

Source: AIM